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MUH-HE-KA-NE-OK 


A    HISTORY   OF   THE 


STOCKBRIDGE     NATION 


or  THE 
C    UNIVERSITY    } 


J.  N.   DAVIDSON,     A.   M. 


MILWAUKEE,     W1S. 
PUBLISHED  BY  SILAS  CHAPMAN. 


MUH-HE-KA-NE-OK 


A    HISTORY    OF   THE 


STOCKBRIDGE     NATION 


—  BY  — 


J.  N.   DAVIDSON.     A.   M 


MILWAUKEE,     WIS. 

I'FRLISHKD    BY    SILAS    CHAPMAN. 

1898. 


COPYRIGHT,  13i>3, 

BY 
J.    N.    DAVIDSON. 


Tn  thE  people  nf  my  first  pastorate,— -the  Congregation 
al  churches  of  Stoughton  and  Cooksville,  and  the  Fresby- 
tsrian  church  of  Cambridge,  Wisconsin,— this  narrative  is 
inscribed  with  grateful  remembrance, 


12671? 


CONTENTS. 


INTRODUCTION. 

Legendary   history   of  the   Muh-he-ka-ne-ok. — Visit  to   the 

Stockbridge  reservation.-   Origin  of  this  monograph.. .  .  vii-xiv 

CHAPTER    I. 

Mission  to  the  "River  Indians." — John  Sergeant. — Settlement 
of  Stockbridge,  Massachusetts. — Prohibitory  liquor-law. 
-  David  Brainerd 1-11 

CHAPTER    I  I. 

Jonathan  Edwards.— Stephen  West. — Stockbridges  in  the 
war  of  the  Revolution. — Removal  to  New  York. — The 
Brothertowns 12-16 

CHAPTER    I  I  I. 

Samson   Occum.— Stockbridge   delegation    visits   President 

Washington— "White  heathen."— War  of  1812 17-21 

CHAPTER    IV. 

Removal  of  part  of  the  tribe  to  Indiana,  thence  to  the  Green 
Bay  region. --Northern  Missionary  Society  (absorbed  in 
to  the  United  Foreign  Missionary  Society  as  that  was 
later  into  the  American  Board).— Jedidiah  Morse  visits 
what  is  now  Wisconsin. — First  Protestant  sermon  here. 
John  Metoxen  (same  nam'e  probably  as  that  once  written 
Mtocksin). — First  temperance  work  in  this  region 21-23 

CHAPTER    V. 

Removal  from  New  York  to  Statesburg  (South  Kaukauna). 
— Rev.  Jesse  Miner,  the  first  Presbyterian  or  Congrega 
tional  minister  to  make  a  home  in  Wisconsin. — First 
school  mistress  here. — Calvin  Colton's  narrative. — Work 


vi  CONTENTS. 

for  the  Sioux.— Chauncey  Hall's  letter. — Removal  to 
Stockbridge,  Wisconsin 24-34 

CHAPTER    V  I. 

Evils  attending  removal. — Mr.  Marsh's  report  of  a  trans-Mis 
sissippi  trip. — Death  for  witchcraft 34-38 

CHAPTER    VI  I. 

Munsees. — Stockbridge  church  joins  the  Convention. — Polit 
ical  divisions. — Methodist  services. — Jeremiah  Slinger- 
land. — Condition  of  the  tribe  in  1848. — The  old  mission- 
house. — Removal  to  Shawano  county. — Later  pastorates.  38  -  45 


APPENDIX. 

Stockbridge  and  Munsee  council. — Constitution  of  the  t  nited 

Tribe 48-52 

ADDENDA. 

Inscription  in  the  Ayscouth  Bible. — Gideon  Hawley. — Time 
of  certain  removals. — Denomination  of  Stockbridge  In 
dian  church.— Mr.  and  Mrs.  Slingerland. — Miss  Electa 
W.  Quinney. — First  school  master  here. — Fugitive  slaves. 
— "Six  wars."— Gregorian  calendar. — A  shameful  de 
ceit—Errata.— York  money— Index 53-58 


INTRODUCTION. 


The  point  of  view  from  which  this  narrative  has  been  prepared 
is  that  of  one  writing  the  history  of  certain  Wisconsin  churches,--- 
those  that  are  or  have  been  in  connection  with  the  ecclesiastical 
body  organized  1839,  January  17th,  as  the  Presbytery  of  Wiscon 
sin,  and  re-organized  1840,  October  6th,  as  the  Presbyterian  and 
Congregational  Convention  of  Wisconsin.  First  of  these  chrono 
logically,  and  in  certain  other  respects  as  well,  was  that  among  the 
Stockbridge  Indians.  But  the  history  of  this  church  could  not  be 
adequately  given  without  telling  that  also  of  its  people.  Thus 
what  was  designed  to  be  a  chapter  has  become  a  little  book, — a 
monograph. 

"I  am  a  true  Native  American,  descended  from  one  of  those 
characters  whose  memory  every  true  American  reveres.  My  grand 
father,  David  Nau-nau-neek-nuk,  was  a  warrior,  and  he  assisted 
your  fathers  in  their  struggle  for  liberty." 

Thus  Waun-nau-con,  alias  John  W.  Quinney,  began  a  memorial 
to  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  dated  at  Washington  1852, 
April  12th.  f  He  was  asking  for  citizenship  and  a  home.  As 
legend  comes  before  authentic  history  we  will  let  him  tell,  as  he 
did  in  a  Fourth  of  July  speech  J  some  of  the  traditions  of  his 
people : 

"About  the  year  1645,  and  when  King  Ben  (the  last  of  the 
hereditary  chiefs  of  the  Muh-he-con-new  Nation)  was  in  his  prime, 
a  Grand  Council  was  convened  of  the  Muh-he-con-new  tribe,  for  the 
purpose  of  conveying  from  the  old  to  the  young  men,  a  knowledge 
of  the  past.  Councils,  for  this  object  especially,  had  ever,  at  stated 
periods,  been  held.  Here  for  the  space  of  two  moons,  the  stores  of 
memory  were  dispensed;  corrections  and  comparisons  made,  and 

t  NOTE.— What  seems  to  be  an  older  form  of  this  name  is  Quinequaunt. 
The  W  probably  stands  for  the  Indian  name  preceding. 
J  NOTE.— At  Reids ville,  New  York,  1854. 


vlii  IN  TROD  UCTION. 

the  results  committed  to  faithful  breasts,  to  be  transmitted  again 
to  succeeding  posterity. 

"Many  years  after,  another,  and  a  last  Council  of  this  kind  was 
held;  and  the  traditions  reduced  to  writing,  by  two  of  our  young 
men,  who  had  been  taught  to  read  and  write,  in  the  school  of  the 
Rev.  John  Sergeant,  of  Stockbridge,  Massachusetts.  They  wrere 
obtained,  in  some  way,  by  a  white  man,  for  publication,  who;  soon 
after,  dying  all  trace  of  them  became  lost.  The  traditions  of  the 
tribe,  however,  have  mainly  been  preserved;  of  which  I  give  you 
substantially  the  following : 

**  4A  great  people  came  from  the  North- West:  crossed  over  the 
gait-waters,  and  after  long  and  weary  pilgrimages,  (planting  many 
colonies  on  their  track,)  took  possession,  and  built  their  fires  upon 
the  Atlantic  coast,  extending  from  the  Delaware  on  the  south,  to 
the  Penobscot  on  the  north.  They  became,  in  process  of  time, 
divided  into  different  tribes  and  interests ;  all,  however,  speaking 
one  common  dialect.  This  great  confederacy,  comprising  Dela- 
wares,  Munsees,  Mohegans,  Narragansetts,  Pequots,  Penobscots, 
and  many  others,  (of  whom  a  few  are  now  scattered  among  the  dis 
tant  wilds  of  the  West—others  supporting  a  weak,  tottering  exist 
ence;  while,  by  far,  a  larger  remainder  have  passed  that  bourne 
to  which  their  brethren  are  tending,)  held  its  Council  once  a  year, 
to  deliberate  on  the  general  welfare.  Patriarchial  delegates  from 
each  tribe  attended,  assisted  by  priests  and  wise  men,  who  commu 
nicated  the  will,  and  invoked  the  blessing,  of  the  Great  and  Good 
Spirit.  The  policy  and  decisions  of  this  Council  were  every  where 
respected,  and  inviolably  observed.  Thus  contentment  smiled  up 
on  their  existence,  and  they  were  happy.  Their  religion,  communi 
cated  by  priests  and  prophets,  was  simple  and  true.  The  manner 
of  worship  is  imperfectly  transmitted;  but  their  reverence  for  a 
Great  and  Good  Spirit — (whom  they  referred  to  by  looking  or 
pointing  upwards,)  the  observance  of  feasts  and  fasts,  in  each  year; 
the  offering  of  beasts  in  thanksgiving  and  for  atonement,  is  clearly 
expressed.  They  believed  the  soul  to  be  immortal; — in  the  existence 
of  a  happy  land  beyond  the  view,  inhabited  by  those  whose  lives 
had  been  bJameless:  while  for  the  wicked  had  been  a  region  of  mis 
ery  reserved,  covered  with  thorns  and  thistles,  where  comfort  and 
pleasure  were  unknown.  Time  was  divided  into  years  and  seasons; 


INTRODUCTION.  k 

twelve  moons  for  a  year,  and  a  number  of  years  by  so  many  win 
ters. 

"The  tribe,  to  which  your  speaker  belongs,  and  of  which  there 
were  many  bands,  occupied  and  possessed  the  country  from  the 
sea-shore,  at  Manhattan,  to  Lake  Champlain.  Having  found  an 
ebb  and  flow  of  the  tide,  they  said:  'This  is  Muh-he-con-new,'— 
''like  our  waters,  which  are  never  still,'  From  this  expression,  and 
by  this  name,  they  were  afterwards  known,  until  their  removal  to 
Stockbridge,  in  the  year  1730.  flousatonic  Kiver  Indians,  Mohe- 
gans,  Manhattas,  were  all  names  of  bands  in  different  localities,  but 
bound  together,  as  one  family,  by  blood,  marriage  and  descent, 
****** 

"Where  are  the  twenty-five  thousand  in  number,  and  the  four 
thousand  warriors,  who  constituted  the  power  and  population  of 
the  great  Muh- he-con-new  Nation  in  1604?  They  have  been  vic 
tims  to  vice  and  disease,  which  the  white  man  imported.  The 
small-pox,  measles,  and  "strong  waters"  have  done  the  work  of  an 
nihilation, 

****** 

"What  are  the  treaties  of  the  general  government?  How  often, 
and  when,  has  its  plighted  faith  been  kept?  Indian  occupation 
forever,  is,  next  year,  or  by  the  next  Commissioner,  more  wise  than 
his  predecessor,  re-purchased.  One  removal  follows  another,  and 
thus  your  sympathies  and  justices  are  evinced  in  speedily  fulfilling 
the  terrible  destinies  of  our  race. 

"My  friends,  your  holy  book,  the  Bible,  teaches  us  that  indi 
vidual  offences  are  punished  in  an  existence,  when  time  shall  be  no 
more.  And  the  annals  of  the  earth  are  equally  instructive,  that 
national  wrongs  are  avenged,  and  national  crimes  atoned  for  in 
this  world,  to  which  alone  the  conformations  of  existence  adapt 
them. 

"These  events  are  above  our  comprehension,  and  for  wise  pur- 
poses.  For  myself  and  for  my  tribe,  I  ask  for  justice — I  believe  it 
will  sooner  or  later  occur— and  may  the  Great  and  Good  Spirit  en 
able  me  to  die  in  hope. 

WANNUAUCON,  the  Muh-he-con-new." 

Mr.  Quinney  seems  to  have  selected  such  of  the  tribal  tradi 
tions  as  he  himself  believed.  My  ignorance  of  his  subject  forbids 


x  INTRODUCTION. 

me  to  do  more  than  to  raise  the  question  whether  or  not  his  con 
cept  of  the  ancient  religious  observances  of  his  people  was  affected 
by  his  own  Christian  training  and  belief.  This  plea  for  his  people 
was  perhaps  his  last  public  effort.  He  died  1855,  July  21st. 

From  legend  we  pass  to  history.  Here  there  is  abundant  ma 
terial.  The  story  of  the  Muh-he-ka-ne-ok  is  one  that  in  former 
years  has  given  hope  to  the  philanthropist  and  joy  to  the  Christian. 
Parts  of  it  have  often  been  told.  If  the  narrative  of  this  later  time 
and  the  account  of  the  present  condition  of  the  tribe  are  of  a  kind 
that  can  not  please,  we  are  to  remember  the  surroundings  in  which 
we  have  placed  these  people,  and  the  neglect  with  which  we  have 
treated  them. 

On  the  evening  of  the  first  of  June  of  this  year  I  came  to  the 
present  Stockbridge  reservation.  The  road  led  from  the  hamlet  of 
Gresham,  a  Bavarian  settlement,  a  place  prettily  situated,  but  foul 
with  beer.  Thither  through  rain  I  had  come  by  a  drive  of  fourteen 
miles  from  Shawano,  the  nearest  railway  station.  Beds  of  corduroy 
crossing  wide  marshes  made  the  road  thence  passable  and  the  jour 
ney  unpleasant.  The  mail-carrier  with  whom  I  had  come  spoke  poor 
German  and  much  worse  English.  My  only  fellow-passenger  was 
the  son  of  a  Norwegian  mother,  but  on  his  father's  side  one  of  the 
the  tribe  I  had  come  to  visit.  Like  most  other  young  men  of  this 
people  he  is  a  logger.  His  education  had  been  neglected.  In  his 
boyhood  he  was  turned  from  school  by  Mr.  Slingerland,  f  he  said, 
and  this  because  bis  parents  were  of  the  "citizens'  party."  How 
full  of  hate  was  the  struggle  between  this  party  and  its  opponents 
this  incident, — which  seemed  to  me  to  be  truthfully  told, — helps  to 
reveal. 

I  was  glad  to  turn  from  Gresham,  a  place  of  temptation  to  the 
Indians,  and  through  the  still  falling  rain  to  walk  into  the  Indian 
country.  The  swollen  Red  River,  then  dashing  over  its  granite 
bed,  runs  there  almost  on  the  line  of  the  reservation.  It  and  the 
larger  Wolf  to  which  it  is  tributary,  have  floated  off  to  the  great  saw 
mills  of  Oshkosh  and  elsewhere,  the  best  of  the  logs  that  once 
stood  on  the  Indians'  land.  Some  great  trees,  however,  are  left,  and 
most  of  the  reservation  is  covered  with  second-growth  forest.  In 
deed,  the  area  surrendered  to  bush  and  tree  seems  to  be  encroaching 

t  NOTE — A  teacher  and  pastor  of  whom  we  shall  hear  later. 


INTRODUCTION.  xi 

upon  that  given  to  the  plow.  Scattered  houses  of  logs  upon  "clear 
ings"  or  small  farms  are  the  homes  of  the  people.  I  doubt  that 
they  live  in  as  much  of  comfort  as  their  fathers  did  on  the  east  side 
of  Lake  Winnebago,  when  fifty  years  ago  their  pastor,  Rev.  Cut 
ting  Marsh,  would  have  had  his  people  remain  where  they  were  and 
advised  them  to  become  citizens. 

Now  the  old  question  is  up  again.  It  seems  that  the  land  of 
the  reservation  is  likely  to  be  allotted  in  severalty.  The  prospect 
of  getting  a  share  was,  about  the  time  of  my  visit,  bringing  thither 
all  who  had  any  claims  whatever  to  tribal  relationship  and  some 
who  perhaps  had  none  at  all.  Already  there  were  new-comers  on 
the  reservation  who  had  no  more  intention  of  making  homes  there 
than  I  had.  They  had  come  because  there  was  a  chance  of  their 
getting  a  piece  of  land  which,  if  secured,  would  be  sold  as  soon  as 
possible. 

A  tedious  drive  by  another  road,  somewhat  shorter,  but  rather 
worse,  brought  me  again  to  Shawano.  The  Presbyterian  pastor 
there,  Rev.  Jacob  Van  Rensslaer  Hughes,  is  by  virtue  of  his  faith 
fulness  bishop  also  of  the  church  at  Stockbridge.  For  the  old 
name  has  been  given  to  a  second  Wisconsin  village, — if  village  that 
can  be  called  which  consists  of  little  more  than  a  blacksmith  shop, 
a  manse  and  a  church.  The  last  is  used  also  as  a  school.  It  is  in 
poor  condition  and  ought  to  be  replaced. 

The  story  of  later  pastorates  will  be  found  in  due  order.  At 
present  Mr.  Hughes  serves  these  people  as  he  can,  and  sees  to  it 
that  a  good  teacher  is  found  for  the  school  which  the  United  States 
government  maintains  among  them. 

There  is  no  post-office  on  the  Stockbridge  reservation.  There 
is  one,  Keshena,  on  that  belonging  to  the  Meuomonees.  There  and 
at  Gresham  the  Stockbridges  get  their  mail. 

Years  ago  Horace  Bushnell,  preaching  before  the  American 
Home  Missionary  society,  said,  "Emigration  tends  to  barbarism." 
He  might  have  added,  "Isolation  tends  to  barbarism."  What  can 
be  expected  of  a  people  thrust  a  generation  ago  into  a  wilderness 
so  dense  that  civilization  has  scarcely  reached  it  even  yet?  On  one 
side  their  nearest  neighbors  are  peasants,  European  in  habits  and 
dialect,  on  another,  the  Menomonee  Indians,  rather  less  advanced 
in  civilization  than  themselves  and  divided  religiously  into  pagans 


xii  INTRODUCTION. 

and  members  of  the  church  of  Rome.  The  logging  camps,  where 
most  of  the  young  Indians  of  both  tribes  spend  the  long  winters 
and  the  delayed  springs  of  northern  Wisconsin,  are  poor  schools  for 
the  development  of  right  character,  or  even  for  training  in  habits  of 
steady  industry. 

Some  families  have  left  the  reservation  and  made  homes  at 
Shawano.  Into  some  of  these  I  was  received,  and  I  found  therein 
cleanliness  and  comfort.  In  character  and  intelligence  these  peo 
ple  will  compare  favorably  with  their  neighbors  of  the  more  favored 
race.  Nor  should  it  be  forgotten  that  on  the  reservation  also  there 
are  those  who  are  true  to  the  better  traditions  of  a  people  who  num 
ber  John  Sergeant  and  Jonathan  Edwards  among  their  spiritual 
fathers. 

With  a  story  to  tell  that  embraces  part  of  the  biography  of  men 
like  these  whom  I  have  just  named,  that  covers  the  history  of  a 
tribe  unique  in  its  good  will  and  practical  services  to  our  colonial 
forefathers  and  to  us  their  descendants  (according  to  the  flesh,  to 
the  spirit,  or  to  both) :  a  story  that  brings  us  again  into  the  light  of 
early  days  in  Wisconsin, — with  such  a  subject  as  this  if  I*do  not 
interest  those  who  care  for  these  things,  it  must  be  because  my 
work  has  been  ill  done.  If  so,  the  reason  may  be  that  the  labor 
has  been  one  of  intervals,  and  has  always  been  subordinated  to  the 
duties  of  busy  pastorates. 

Out  of  the  material  gathered  when  there  was  opportunity  for 
such  work,  two  papers  have  been  prepared  and  published:  "Missions 
on  the  Chequamegon  Bay,"  in  volume  XII.  of  the  Wisconsin  His 
torical  Collections,  and  "Negro  Slavery  in  Wisconsin."  The  sub 
stance  of  the  former  was  presented  as  an  address  at  the  Northwest 
Educational  Conference  held  at  La  Pointe  on  Madeline  Island, 
1892,  July  12th  and  13th,  under  the  auspices  of  the  Lake  Superior 
Congregational  Club.  The  latter  was  an  address  before  the  State 
Historical  Society  at  its  annual  meeting,  December  8th  of  the  same 
year.  Various  articles  also  have  appeared  in  "Our  Church  Work," 
"The  Southern  Congregationalist,"  "The  Milwaukee  Sentinel,"  "The 
Northwestern  Congregationalist"  and  other  papers. 

If  in  the  forms  of  the  Muh-he-ka-ne-ew  dialect  John  Sergeant 
and  the  younger  Edwards  made  errors,  these  it  is  probable  can  not 
be  corrected  by  any  one  now  living.  Some  of  the  older  members 


INTRODUCTION.  xiii 

of  the  tribe  understand  the  vernacular  of  their  fathers  and  can 
speak  it.  But  their  knowledge  thereof  is  neither  authoritative  nor 
scientific.  Information  given  me  by  one  of  these,  Tau-tau-yah- 
com-mo-wah,  (Talker  to  the  point;  or,  Speaker  to  the  point),  [  have 
incorporated  into  the  first  note  in  the  chapter  on  the  "Church  in 
the  Wilderness."  \ 

It  can  not  be  said  that  there  is  a  fixed  standard  for  the  spelling 
of  Indian  words.  These  appear  accordingly  on  the  following  pages 
as  they  are  used  by  writers  whom  I  have  laid  under  contribution 
to  the  making  of  this  narrative. 

The  tribal  Constitution,  Thomas  Coram's  inscription  in  the 
Ayscouth  Bible,  some  added  notes  and  errata,  will  be  found  in  the 
appendix. 

It  would  be  ungrateful  not  to  speak  of  the  favors  shown  me 
in  the  library  of  the  State  Historical  Society  J  by  Secretary  Reuben 
Gold  Thwaites,  the  late  librarian  Daniel  Steele  Durrie,  his  succes 
sor  Isaac  S.  Bradley,  and  their  assistants.  Nor  do  I  forget  the 
help  I  have  found  in  the  library  of  Beloit  college,  my  own  alma 
mater,  and  the  encouragement  that  my  former  instructors  have 
given  me.  For  help  in  proof  reading  and  the  slavish  work  of  mak 
ing  an  index,  meant  to  be  reasonably  full,  I  owe  thanks  to  my 
sister,  Orpha  E.  Leavitt,  A.  B.,  instructor,  formerly  in  Downer  col 
lege,  Fox  Lake,  and  now  in  Doane  college,  Crete,  Nebraska. 

As  already  stated,  this  little  monograph  was  originally  de 
signed  to  be  but  part  of  a  history  of  the  churches  that  are  or 
have  been  in  connection  with  the  Presbyterian  and  Congregational 
Convention  of  Wisconsin,  and  of  that  body  itself.  "Professor 
Blaisdell,"  say  the  minutes  of  the  convention  for  1891,  §  "called 
attention  to  an  extended  history  of  our  churches  being  prepared 
by  Rev.  J.  N.  Davidson,  of  Stoughton.  It  was  voted  that  a  com 
mittee  of  five  be  appointed  to  review  the  work,  take  charge  of 

t  NOTE.— These  translations  are  his  own.  He  is  commonly  known  as 
Dennis  Turkey.  He  recognizes  his  Indian  name  by  writing  between  his  inter 
esting  English  appellatives  an  initial  T. 

t  NOTE.— I  do  not  doubt  that  there  are  many  well-informed  citizens  of 
Wisconsin  who  do  not  know  that  this  library  is  believed,  with  reason,  to  rank 
third  in  the  United  States  in  fullness  of  collections  pertaining  to  American 
history. 

§  NOTE.— Fond  clu  Lac,  September  30th. 


xiv  INTRODUCTION. 

its  publication  and  bring  it  to  the  attention  of  the  churches;  the 
committee  to  consist  of  Prof.  J.  J.  Blaisdell,  Rev.  J.  Porter,  Rev.  C. 
W.  Csmp,  Rev.  Luther  Clapp  and  Rev.  S.  P.  Wilder." 

All  of  these  gentlemen  have  shown  much  more  than  a  mere 
kindly  interest.  I  am  sure  that  I  shall  not  seem  to  make  an  invid 
ious  distinction  when  I  say  that  the  eldest  member  of  the  commit 
tee,  Jeremiah  Porter,  D.  D.,  and  the  brother  next  to  him  in  years, 
Rev.  Luther  C  app,  have  placed  me  under  peculiar  obligations. 
Even  as  these  pages  were  passing  through  the  press  our  beloved 
Father  Porter  was  not,  for  God  took  him. 

Associated  with  his  name  is  that  of  his  Andover  classmate, 
Rev.  Cutting  Marsh.  His,  in  greater  part  than  those  pages  can 
show,  was  the  good  work  done  among  the  Stockbridges  in  Wiscon 
sin.  That  he  was  not  longer  upheld  in  his  labor  among  them 
seems  to  have  been  partly  their  own  fault  and  partly  a  mistake  of 
the  American  Board  in  giving  up  the  ancient  mission  among  his 
misguided  people. 

—Whom  may  a  covenant-keeping  God  save  and  bless ! 

Two  Rivers,  ttliscansin, 

IB 93,  September  5th, 


I. 


THE    CHURCH    IN    THE    WILDERNESS. 

Through  the  Stockbridge  Indian  church  our  Wisconsin  eccle 
siastical  history  is  directly  connected  with  that  of  Massachusetts. 
The  Muh-he-ka-ne-ok,  or  Housatonics  (often  called  the  River  Indi 
ans),  f  and  perhaps  other  closely  allied  tribes  or  sub-tribes  were 
living,  1722,  in  the  valley  of  the  Housatonic  river,  western  Massa 
chusetts.  On  the  30th  of  June  (llth  of  July,  new  style)  of  that 
year,  the  General  Court  (legislature)  of  the  colony  granted  to  some 
whites  two  townships  of  land  in  that  vicinity.  This  gift  was  made 
subject  to  the  rights  of  the  Indians.  A  chief  named  Konkapot 
(Conkepot)  and  twenty  others  of  his  tribe  signed  the  deed,  1724, 
April  25th  (May  6th).  The  consideration  was  "£460,  three  barrels 
of  sider,  thirty  quarts  of  rum."  The  Indians  kept  two  small  reser 
vations,  Skatekook,  now  in  Sheffield,  and  Wnahktukook,  ten  miles 
north.  Konkapot,  the. principal  person  at  Wnahktukook,  was  soon 
discovered  to  be  a  worthy,  industrious  man  and  favorably  inclined 
toward  Christianity.  Through  Rev.  Samuel  Hopkins  of  West 
Springfield,  whose  nephew  Mrs.  Stowe  has  made  famous  in  "The 
Minister's  Wooing,"  the  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Indian  Af- 

t  NOTE.— According  to  President  Edwards  the  younger  (of  Union  college), 
the  name  of  these  people  is  Muh-he-ka-ne-ew,  with  a  plural  form  Muh-he-ka-ne- 
ok  .  The  elder  President  Dwight  of  Yale  gives  the  forms  Muh-he-ka-ne-uw,  sin 
gular,  and  Muh-he-a-kun-nuk,  plural.  Edwards  ought  to  be  good  authority, 
for  his  boyhood  from  his  seventh  year  until  he  was  nearly  thirteen  was  spent 
among  them.  He  tells  us  that  he  was  more  familiar  at  one  time  with  the  In 
dian  language  than  with  the  English.  He  thought  and  dreamed  in  Indian. 
This  is  more  easily  understood  when  we  remember  that  owing  to  a  difficulty 
with  his  eyes  he  did  not  learn  to  read  until  comparatively  late.  The  forms 
ending  in  k  are  probably  all  plurals,  with  the  very  doubtful  exception  of  Muh- 
he-con-nuk,  which  strictly  denotes  the  place  of  residence.  It  would  be  tedioua 
to  give  all  the  varieties  of  spelling.  In  the  published  volumes  of  the  Wiscon 
sin  Historical  Collections  we  have  the  redundant  plurals,  Mo-he-kun-nucks, 
Mohickanucks,  Moheakunnuks. 

One  of  the  few  members  of  the  tribe  who  still  retain  a  knowledge  of  the 
language  calls  his  people  the  Mah-e-con-news.  Making  allowance  for  the  evi 
dently  English  form  of  ths  plural  and  for  the  blending  into  one  of  the  last  two 
syllables  of  the  name  as  given  by  President  Edwards,  we  find  that  these  forms 
are  substantially  the  same.  The  ew  in  both  is  an  attempt  to  represent  the  long 
sound  of  M  as  heard  in  the  first  syllable  of  beauty.  For  slight  modifications  of 


2  THE   CHURCH  IN   THE    WILDERNESS. 

fairs,  of  whom  Governor  Jonathan  Belcher  was  one,  and  who  were 
agents  in  Boston  of  what  Jonathan  Edwards  calls  "the  honorable 
society  in  Scotland  for  the  Propagation  of  Christian  Knowledge,** 
heard  of  the  willingness  of  the  "River  Indians,"  as  they  were  then 
commonly  called,  to  receive  Christian  instruction.  A  favorable 
opportunity  to  meet  them  soon  arose.  The  tribe  had  aided  the 
colonists  in  their  struggle  with  the  French.  In  recognition  of  ser 
vices  rendered,  Konkapot  and  another  chief  named  Umpachene 
were  summoned  by  the  governor  to  come  to  Springfield  in  May, 
1734,  to  receive,  the  former  the  title  of  captain  and  the  latter  that  of 
lieutenant  in  the  British  army.  To  persuade  these  chiefs  to  per 
mit  the  establishment  of  a  mission  among  their  people,  the  Com 
missioners  had  appointed  deputies:  Mr.  Hopkins,  the  projector 
and  afterward  historian  of  the  mission,  and  Stephen  Williams,  D.  D., 
of  Longmeadow,  of  whose  distant  kinsman,  Eleazar  Williams,  we 
often  hear  in  the  early  history  of  Green  Bay  in  our  own  state.  In  so 
important  a  matter  the  newly  made  captain  and  lieutenant  wished  to 
have  the  approval  of  their  people.  Accordingly  a  tribal  meeting 
was  held  1734,  July  8th  (19th),  in  what  is  ^now  the  town  of  Great 
Barrington,  Berkshire  county,  Massachusetts.  A  four  days'  con 
sultation  and  discussion  took  place.  Dutch  traders  from  New 
York  who  had  been  accustomed  to  furnish  the  Indians  with  liquor 

these  spellings  and  lor  the  name  which  the  tribe  chose  for  the  reservation,  or 
district,  which  it  now  occupies,  see  the  tribal  constitution  as  printed  in  the 
appendix. 

Translations  also  vary.  David  Dudley  Field,  for  many  years  pastor  at 
Stockbiidge,  Massachusetts,  gives  :  "The  people  of  the  great  waters  continu 
ally  in  motion."  Miss  Electa  Jones,  historian  of  the  town,  prefers  the  render 
ing,  "The  people  of  the  continually  flowing  waters."  The  reference  is  prob 
ably  to  tidal  movement. 

The  language,  a  dialect  of  the  Algonkin  tongue,  is  called  Mohegan  by 
President  Edwards  the  elder.  Of  this  word  another  spelling  is  Mohican.  It  is 
probably  a  shortened  and  corrupted  form  of  the  tribal  name. 

There  was  a  legend  among  "the  people  of  the  waters  that  are  never  still" 
that  their  ancestors  came  from  a  country  very  far  to  the  northwest  of  their 
Massachusetts  home,  "having  crossed  the  great  water  at  the  place  where  this 
and  the  other  country  are  nearly  connected."  They  came  to  a  great  river,  and 
noticing  the  ebb  and  flow  of  its  waters,  said  :  "This  is  Muh-he-con-nuk,"  and 
there  they  made  their  home.  This  river, beside  which  the  Muh-he-ka-ne-ok  lived 
until  after  the  coming  of  the  white  men,  to  this  country,  was  known  to  the  Del 
aware  Indians  as  the  Mahecanittuck  (or  Mohicannettuck),  though  its  Mohegan 
name  is  Chalemuc  and  the  Iroquois  called  it  Cohahatatea.  It  is  our  Hudson, 
called  by  the  member  of  the  tribe  of  whom  I  have  spoken  above,  Muh-e-con-took. 
It  is  from  this  stream  that  the  Stockbridges  got  their  name  the  "River  Indians." 


THE   CHURCH  IN   THE    WILDERNESS.  3 

naturally  opposed  the  movement.  But  under  the  leadership  of 
Konapot,  who  must  have  been  a  man  of  great  ability  as  well  as  of 
signal  worth,  the  tribe  became  unanimous  in  giving  a  welcome  to 
the  proposed  mission. 

Meanwhile  the  heart  of  John  Sergeant,  tutor  in  Yale  college, 
had  been  moved  to  undertake  just  such  work.  4>I  should  be 
ashamed  to  call  myself  a  Christian  or  even  a  man,"  said  he,  "and 
yet  refuse  to  do  what  lay  in  my  power,  to  cultivate  humanity 
among  a  people  naturally  ingenious  enough,  but  who,  for  want  of 
instruction,  live  so  much  below  the  dignity  of  human  nature,  and 
to  promote  the  salvation  of  souls  perishing  in  the  dark  when  yet 
the  light  of  life  is  so  near  them."  In  October,  1734,  Mr.  Sergeant 
came  to  visit  the  people  among  whom  he  purposed  to  dwell.  He 
was  accompanied  by  one  of  the  nearest  resident  pastors,  Rev.  Ne- 
hemiah  Bull  of  Westfield,  who,  in  place  of  Mr.  Hopkins  kept  away 
by  illness,  had  attended  with  Mr.  AYilliams  the  conference  of  the 
preceding  July.  Mr.  Sergeant  and  his  friend  spent  one  night  in 
the  woods  without  fire  or  shelter.  On  Sunday  the  13th  (24th)  of 
October,  the  day  after  their  arrival,  thay  gathered  a  congregation 
in  which  were  twenty  adults..  All  gave  good  heed  to  what  wTas 
said  but  it  was  noticed  that  Konkapot  and  family  were  among  the 
most  attentive  listeners.  Then  or  soon  thereafter,  the  interpreter, 
Ebeneezer  Poohpoonuc  desired  to  be  baptized.  Having  obtained 
from  him  among  other  declarations  the  statement  that  he  would 
rather  burn  in  the  fire  than  deny  the  truth,  Mr.  Bull  baptized  him, 
Thursday  the  18th  (29th)  of  October,  1734,  as  the  first  fruits  of  the 
mis3ion.  The  meeting  was  held  at  the  dwelling  of  Lieutenant 
Umpachene,  a  wigwam  which  is  said  to  have  been  fifty  or  sixty 
feet  long.  Perhaps  candidates  for  church-membership  are  not  ex 
amined  any  more  carefully  now  than  was  faithful  E^eneezer  Pooh 
poonuc  (or  Poo-poo- nah)  more  than  a  century  and  half  ago. 

The  mission  was  first  established  in  what  is  now  the  town  of 
Great  Barrington.  Here  on  the  21st  October  (1st  November),  was 
begun  the  erection  of  a  building  which  was  to  serve  for  church  and 
school.  So  rapidly  was  the  work  pushed  forward  that  the  school 
itself  was  opened  Tuesday,  5th  (16th)  of  November.  Mr.  Sergeant 
himself  was  the  teacher.  Think  of  the  Yale  tutor  teaching  Indian 
children  the  very  rudiments  of  book  knowledge!  But  his  mission 
ary  duties  involved  a  visit  to  Albany  to  inquire  about  the  Mohawks. 


4  THE   CHURCH  IN   THE   WILDERNESS. 

He  left  on  the  25th  of  November  and  returned  on  the  30th  (6th 
and  llth  of  December  respectively).  During  his  absence  Mr.  Hop 
kins  procured  for  him  a  helper,  Mr.  Timothy  Woodbridge,  to  whom 
was  committed  the  care  of  the  mission  on  Mr.  Sergeant's  departure 
for  New  Haven  which  took  place  Monday,  9th  (20th)  of  December, 
1734.  He  had  the  last  of  a  three  years'  tutorship  at  Yale  to  finish. 
Almost  his  last  act  before  leaving  was  to  counteract  the  evil  influ 
ence  of  some  liquor-sellers.  In  this  he  was  so  successful  as  to  be 
able  to  take  with  him  to  New  Haven  a  son  of  Konkapot  and  also 
one  of  Umpachene.  This  was  done  that  these  boys  might  learn 
English  and  himself  learn  their  vernacular.  In  the  following  May 
Mr.  Sergeant  visited  his  people.  What  occurred  later  is  well  told 
in  a  letter  by  an  unknown  writer.  It  was  dated  at  "Indian  Town, 
November  3rd,  1735."  In  it  we  have  an  instance  of  the  old- 
time  connection  between  church  and  state.  We  notice  also  that 
the  church  of  JStockbridge  (which  continues  to  this  day)  had  its  be 
ginning  in  nothing  more  formal  than  the  baptism  of  one  converted 
Indian.  Some  of  our  ministers  who  are  so  fond  of  "organizing" 
churches  without  reference  to  what  has  been  done  by  their  prede 
cessors  on  the  same  field  may  well  make  a  note  of  this.  It  will  be 
remembered  that  new-style  dates  may  be  found  by  adding  to  those 
given  eleven  days.  "Mahaiwe"  should  be  "Nehhaiwe," — "place 
down  stream." 

"My  well  beloved  Christian  Friend: — I  have  just  returned 
from  Mahaiwe  where  I  spent  the  Sabbath  with  our  most  worthy 
missionary,  Rev.  John  Sergeant.  It  is  only  two  weeks  since  the 
return  of  Mr.  Sergeant  from  New  Jersey,  whither  he  went  after  his 
ordination  at  Deerfield.  He  was  ordained  on  the  31st  of  August 
last.  The  same  took  place  in  the  presence  of  Governor  Belcher, 
and  a  large  committee  of  the  Council  and  House  of  Representa 
tives. 

"The  Governor  and  his  associates  had  spent  the  week  previous 
in  arranging  a  treaty  with  the  Indians,  and  exchanging  pledges. 
On  Sunday,  August  31st,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Williams  of  Hatfield,  ad 
dressed  Governor  Belcher  in  the  church,  and  'humbly  asked  if  it 
were  his  excellency's  pleasure  that  the  pastors  then  convened 
should  set  apart  Rev.  John  Sergeant  for  the  work  of  the  salvation 
of  the  heathen.'  The  Governor  responded  affirmatively. 


t 


THE   CHURCH  IN   THE   WILDERNESS.  5 

"Mr.  Williams  then  asked  Mr.  Sergeant  if  he  would  take  upon 
himself  that  work.  Mr.  Sergeant  gave  his  assent.  The  Indians, 
of  whom  a  large  delegation  was  present,  were  then  asked,  throjugh 
an  interpreter,  if  they  would  receive  Mr.  Sergeant  as  their  teacher. 
They  manifested  their  approval  by  rising  in  a  body.  The  services 
of  ordination  were  then  performed. 


"The  church  consisted  of  but  one  member,  Ebenezer  Poopoo- 
nah,  who  is  the  interpreter.  Yesterday  Captain  Konkapot  was 
added  together  with  his  wife  and  daughter.  They  were  baptized. 
Captain  K.  received  the  name  of  John,  his  wife  the  name  of  Mary, 
and  his  daughter  the  name  of  Catherine.  There  was  a  large  at 
tendance  of  Indians  and  whites,  the  latter  being  principally  Dutch 
men,  who  have  settled  on  the  valley  of  the  river.  Lieutenant  Um- 
pachene  and  wife  are  to  be  baptized  next  Sunday,  and  then  Cap 
tain  Konkapot  will  be  married  according  to  the  rites  of  the  Chris 
tian  religion.  He  has  lived  with  his  squaw  many  years  and  has  a 
large  family,  but  he  nevertheless  now  wishes  to  be  married.  If 
the  missionary  can  keep  the  Indians  away  from  the  Dutch  settlers, 
who  furnish  them  with  fire-water,  he  may  succeed,  but  unless  he 
can  I  fear  the  Indians  will  need  many  ceremonies  before  they  will 
abide.  I  translate  the  vow  which  Captain,  now  John,  Konkapot 
took  in  presence  of  the  large  masses  of  Indians  gathered. 

"  'Through  the  goodness  of  God  toward  me  in  bringing  me  into 
the  way  of  the  knowledge  of  the  gospel,  I  am  convinced  of  the 
truth  of  the  Christian  religion,  and  that  it  is  the  only  way  that 
leads  to  salvation  and  happiness.  I  therefore  freely  and  heartily 
forsake  heathenish  darkness,  and  embrace  the  light  of  the  gospel 
and  the  way  of  holiness,  and  do,  in  the  presence  of  Almighty  God, 
the  searcher  of  hearts,  and  before  many  witnesses,  sincerely  and 
solemnly  take  the  Lord  Jehovah  to  be  my  God  and  portion;  Jesus 
Christ  His  Son,  to  be  my  Lord  and  Redeemer,  and  the  Holy  Ghost 
to  be  my  sanctifier  and  teacher.  And  I  do  covenant  and  promise 
by  the  help  of  divine  grace,  that  I  will  cleave  to  the  Lord,  with 
purpose  of  heart,  believing  his  revealed  truths  as  far  as  I  can  gain 
a  knowledge  of  them,  obeying  his  commands,  both  those  that  mark 
out  my  duty  and  those  that  forbid  sin,  sincerely  and  uprightly  to 
the  end  of  my  life.' 


6  THE   CHURCH  IN   THE   WILDERNESS. 

"Konkapot  is  a  man  of  fine  presence,  and  the  solemn  manner 
in  which,  with  deep  guttural  tones,  he  pronounced  the  above,  visi 
bly  affected  the  whole  audience. 

Thine  sincerely/' 


Soon  Mr.  Sergeant  had  baptized  fifty  and  the  work  and  influ 
ence  of  the  mission  were  otherwise  manifest.  About  December, 
1733,  the  Indians  passed  a  resolution  to  have  "no  trading  in  rum."' 
In  this  matter  who  of  their  time  did  better  than  these  poor  men 
scarcely  yet  come  into  the  light  of  Christian  truth? 

A  town  six  miles  square  was  laid  out  in  1736  as  a  home  for  the 
Indians.  It  was  incorporated  in  1739  and  named  probably  after 
Stockbridge  in  England  winch  it  is  said  to  resemble,  In  later 
years  this  town  has  produced  many  well  known  men,  among  them 
Cyrus  W.  Field,  of  ocean-cable  fame,  and  his  illustrious  brothers, 
one  of  whom  is  an  associate  justice  of  the  supreme  court  of  the 
United  States.  The  Indians,  who  had  previously  been  dispersed 
in  three  different  localities,  settled  here  in  May,  1736.  f  By  Mr. 
Sergeant's  labors  so  great  a  change  was  wrought  that  the  Indians 
themselves  expressed  it  by  such  metaphors  as  infancy  and  man 
hood,  dreaming  and  waking,  darkness  and  light.  The  colonial 
government  built  them  a  church  and  a  school-house.  The  former 
was  dedicated  Thanksgiving,  29th  November,  1739. 

Mr.  Sergeant  who,  the  Indians  said,  came  to  know  their  lan 
guage  better  than  they  did  themselves,  translated  for  their  use 
nearly  all  the  New  Testament  and  a  great  part  of  the  Old,  besides 
prayers,  a  catechism  and  a  marriage  service.  He  usually  preached 
every  week  two  sermons  in  the  language  of  the  Indians  and  two  in 
English,  J  besides  holding  what  would  now  be  called  a  Sunday- 

t  NOTE. — Rev.  John  W.  Harding  of  Longmeadow,  Massachusetts,  recalls 
"the  missionary  efforts  of  the  Moravians  under  the  lead  of  Nicolaus  Ladwig, 
Count  von  Zinzendorf,  to  Christianize  the  Mohigans  at  Shekomeko,  New  York, 
and  Patchgatcock,  Connecticut,  near  the  present  town  of  Kent."  These  Mohi 
cans,  says  James  Wood  in  Scharfs  History  of  Wee-tchester  county,  New  York, 
"removed  to  Stockbridge,  which  became  the  headquarters  of  the  tribe."  This 
statement  is  true  probably  of  few  rather  than  of  many.  "Some  of  them,"  says 
Mr.  Harding,  "went  to  Pennsylvania."  The  Moravian  missions,  however, 
were  begun  later  than  Mr.  Sergeant's  for  Zinzendorf  did  not  come  to  America 
until  1740. 

t  NOTE.- The  English  service  was  not  simply  to  accustom  the  natives  to 
the  use  of  that  language,  but  also  to  provide  for  the  spiritual  wants  of  four 


THE   CHURCH  IN   THE    WILDERNESS.  7 

school.  He  desired  to  take  Indian  children  from  their  surround 
ings  and  find  homes  for  them  in  civilized  parts  of  the  country  and 
in  families  where  they  could  be  properly  trained.  This,  through 
the  generosity  of  Rev.  Isaac  Hollis,  a  wealthy  Baptist  minister  of 
London,  f  he  was  able  to  do  in  the  case  first  of  twelve,  then  of 
twenty-four,  and  lastly  of  thirty-six  boys.  But  this  was  not 
enough.  He  established  a  school  which  for  that  time  and  among 
that  people  did  in  a  measure  the  work  that  Carlisle  and  Hampton 
are  now  doing  for  our  Indians.  To  this  were  removed  the  boys 
whom  Mr.  Hollis  was  supporting,  and  thus  the  school  was  main 
tained  in  large  part  by  his  gifts.  But  many  others  contributed  to  it, 
among  theft  the  Prince  of  Wales  J  (father  of  George  III.)  and  his 
brother,  the  Duke  of  Cumberland,  victor  at  Colloden.  Dr.  Watts, 
the  famous  hymn-writer,  took  up  a  collection  among  a  few  friends 
and  sent  £70  or  more. ^^^ 

or  more  colonial  families  who,  by  invitation,  settled  at  Stockbridge  to  be,  in 
a  sense,  models  to  their  Indian  neighbors.  Among  these  settlers  was  Colonel 
Ephraim  Williams  whose  son  of  the  same  name  made  by  will  a  gift  for  the 
establishment  of  a  free  school,  now  Williams  College. 

t  NOTE. — Nephew  of  Thomas  Hollis,  the  benefactor  of  Harvard. 
t  NOTE.— This  was  the  Prince  Frederick  for  whom,  Thackery  tells  us,  the 
following  epitaph  was  proposed  : 

Here  lies  Fred, 

»  Who  was  alive,  and  is  dead. 

Had  it  been  his  father, 
I  had  much  rather. 
Had  it  been  his  brother, 
Still  better  than  another. 
Had  it  been  his  sister, 
No  one  would  have  missed  her. 
Had  it  been  the  whole  generation, 
Still  better  for  the  nation. 
But  since  'tis  only  Fred, 
Who  was  alive,  and  is  dead, 
There's  no  more  to  be  said. 

His  "clerk  of  the  closet"  (chaplain)  gave  a  two-volume  Oxford  Bible 
which  Rev.  Calvin  Colton  thought  worthy  of  special  description  in  his  "Tour 
ot  the  American  Lakes,"  published  in  London,  1833.  This  old  Bible  is  still 
preserved  with  religious  veneration.  Upon  each  volume  is  the  inscription  : 

THE  .  GIFT  .  OF  . 
THE  .  REV  .  DR  .  FRANCIS  .  AYSCOUTH  . 

TO  .  THE  . 

INDIAN  .  CONGREGATION  .  AT  .  HOUSATONIC  . 

IN  .  NEW  .  ENGLAND  . 

MDCCXLV. 


8  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE   WILDERNESS. 

We  go  back  in  order  of  time  to  notice  that  in  1739,  the  year  of 
the  dedication  of  the  church,  the  Indians,  at  the  suggestion  of  the 
missionaries,  laid  a  penalty  of  £40  York  money  (perhaps  $100  or 
$120)  upon  any  person  who  should  bring  rum  into  Stockbridge  for 
sale.  Inn-keepers  were  the  liquor- sellers  of  that  day,  and  those  in 
the  vicinity  were  remonstrated  with  upon  the  sin  of  selling  spirits 
to  Indians,  inclined  to  excessive  drinking.  But  these  efforts  the  evil- 
disposed  endeavored  to  turn  to  the  harm  of  the  poor  Indians  by  telling 
them  that  the  missionaries  infringed  upon  their  liberties,  that  they 
were  used  worse  than  dogs  and  slaves  and  would  soon  be  reduced 
openly  to  bondage.  From  this  it  would  seem  that  the  "personal 
liberty"  argument  in  the  temperance  discussion  is  not  altogether 
new. 

To  Stockbridge  came,  31st  of  March  (llth  of  April),  1743, 
David  Brainerd,  one  of  the  uncanonized  saints  of  our  American 
churches.  He  was  on  his  way  to  establish  a  mission  at  Kaunau- 
meek,  now  Lebanon,  New  York.  His  new  home  was  twenty  miles 
from  Stockbridge,  on  the  road  to  Albany.  Many  a  time  during  the 
following  winter  did  Mr.  Brainerd  traverse  the  weary  miles  that  lay 
between  him  and  his  friend,  for  we  find  this  recorded  in  his  diary 
under  date  of  November  29th  (10th  December):  "Began  to  study 
the  Indian  tongue  with  Mr.  Sergeant  at  Stockbridge."  *He  had  al 
ready  established  a  school  in  which  he  placed  as  teacher  his  inter 
preter,  John  Wauvvaumpequunnaut,  who  was  among  those  educat 
ed  by  Mr.  Hollis's  generosity.  So  that  for  the  training  of  his  asso 
ciate  and  for  his  own  knowledge  of  the  language  Mr.  Brainerd  was 
indebted  to  the  Stockbridge  pastor.  In  the  spring  or  summer  of 
1744,  by  Mr.  Brainerd's  advice,  the  Indians  of  his  charge,  being 
few  in  number,  removed  to  Stockbridge  to  live  under  Mr.  Ser 
geant's  ministry. 

In  Brainerd's  diary  for  that  year  we  have  this  record  of  his 
last  public  service  at  Kaunaumeek:  "Lord's  day,  March  11  (22). 
My  soul  was  in  some  measure  strengthened  in  God  in  morning  de 
votion;  so  that  I  was  released  from  trembling  fear  and  distress. 
Preached  to  my  people  from  the  parable  of  the  sower.  Matt.  13,  and 
enjoyed  some  assistance  both  parts  of  the  day;  had  some  freedom, 
affection,  and  fervency  in  addressing  my  poor  people;  Jonged  that 
God  should  take  hold  of  their  hearts,  and  make  them  spiritually 


THE  CHURCH  IN  THE   WILDERNESS.  9 

alive.  And  indeed  I  had  so  much  to  say  to  them,  that  I  knew  not 
how  to  leave  off  speaking." 

Mr.  Brainerd's  work  at  Kaunaumeek  f  thus  characteristically 
ended,  was,  in  a  sense  supplementary  to  that  done  by  Mr.  Ser 
geant,  who  had  preached  there  before  him.  The  missionary  zeal 
of  both  now  looked  to  more  distant  fields.  Proposals  were  made 
to  the  Delawares  J  for  the  establishment  of  a  mission  among  them. 
They  gave  consent,  and  Brainerd  turned  from  calls  to  pleasant  pas 
torates  among  people  of  his  own  race  to  life  in  the  wilderness  that 
then  covered  the  regions  about  the  "Forks  of  the  Delaware"  and 
those  on  the  upper  Susquehanna.  He  labored  also  among  scattered 
Indians  that  were  then  left  in  New  Jersey.  "Indeed,  I  had  no  idea 
of  joy  from  this  world,"  he  wrote,  "I  cared  not  where  or  how  I 
lived  or  what  hardships  I  might  have  to  endure,  if  I  might  only 
gain  souls  to  Christ."  What  wonder  that  xvith  such  a  spirit  he  won 
many  to  his  Master's  service?  But  his  mortal  life,  with  all  its 
courage,  zeal  and  devotion,  was  soon  to  end.  He  returned  to  his 
native  New  England,  and  there,  1747,  October  9th  (20th)  in  the 
home  of  Jonathan  Edwards  at  Northampton,  he  passed  away.  § 

Meamvhile  Mr.  Sergeant  continued  his  abundant  labors  among 
the  Muh-he-ka-ne-ok.  The  school  for  which  the  gifts  already 
mentioned  (and  many  others)  were  made  I!  could  not  be  established 

t  NOTE.-  Sometimes  the  u  is  left  out  of  one  syllable  and  sometimes  out 
of  the  other. 

t  NOTE.— The  late  E.  W.  B.  Canning  of  Stockbridge,  Massachusetts,  says 
to  the  Shawnees  also,  and  adds  that  these  refused  the  offen 

§  NOTE.— Brainerd's  mother  was  dead,  and  the  last  weeks  of  his  lingering 
illness, — he  died  of  consumption, — he  was  cared  for  by  his  affianced  wife,  a 
daughter  of  Mr.  Edwards.  "Dear  Jerusha,"  he  asked  her  a  few  days  before  his 
death,  "are  you  quite  willing  to  part  with  me?*'  She  wa^  a  true  Edwards  and 
replied  :  "I  am  quite  willing  to  part  \vith  you  :  1  am  willing  to  part  with  all 
my  friends  :  I  am  willing  to  part  with  my  dear  brother  John,  although  I  love 
him  the  best  of  any  creature  living  ;  I  have  committed  him  and  all  my  friends 
to  God,  and  can  leave  them  with  God."  But,  girl-like,  she  continued,  "Though 
if  I  thought  I  should  not  see  you  and  be  happy  with  you  in  another  world,  I 
could  not  bear  to  part  with  you.  But  we  shall  spend  a  happy  eternity  to* 
gether!"  Dear  saints  and  blessed  lovers,  they  were  not  long  separate.  Miss 
Edwards  died  1748,  February  Hth  (25th).  Slie  had  not  completed  her  eighteenth 
year. 

||  NOTE.— Thus  the  Indians  themselves  gave  a  fartn^site  of  two  hundred 
acres. 


10  THE  CHURCH  IN   THE   WILDERNESS. 

until  1747.  f  This  was  for  boys,  to  whom  alone  Mr.  Hollis's  favors 
were  extended.  But  if  it  should  prove  successful,  Mr.  Sergeant 
had  in  mind  an  institution  of  like  sort  for  girls.  He  purposed  also 
to  go  to  the  Iroquois  (Six  Nations)  in  New  York,  and  try  to  induce 
them  to  send  young  people  to  Stockbridge  for  training  in  civiliza 
tion  and  Christianity.  But  the  carrying  out  of  these  projects  was 
prevented  by  his  death  which,  to  human  sight,  came  all  too  soon. 
He  was  taken  from  his  people  1749,  July  27th  (August  7th),  in  the 
thirty-ninth  year  of  his  age. 

To  appreciate  even  in  part  the  work  done  by  this  extraordinary 
man,  we  must  remember  that  "up  to  the  second  decade  of  the  last 
century  the  western  border  of  our  state"  [Massachusetts]  "seems  to 
have  been  as  little  known  as  are  the  regions  about  Hudson  Bay  at 
the  present  time.  The  boundary  between  Massachusetts  and  New 
York  was  still  undetermined,  and  the  country  a  wilderness  except 
where  a  few  Dutchmen  had  made  clearings  under  the  grant  of  the 
Livingstone  manor  lying  beyond."  J 

We  have  good  reason  to  believe  that  but  for  the  unifying  work 
of  its  mission  the  Stockbridge  nation  would  long  since  have  been 
extinct.  We  may  then  regard  Mr.  Sergeant  as  the  preserver  of  the 
distinctive  life  of  the  people  among  whom  he  labored.  At  their  re 
moval  from  Great  Barrington  to  Stockbridge  they  numbered,  as 
nearly  as  can  be  ascertained,  twenty  families  and  about  ninety  in 
dividuals;  in  1740  they  had  increased  to  one  hundred  twenty,  and 
in  the  year  of  Mr.  Sergeant's  death,  to  two  hundred  eighteen,  com 
prised  in  fifty-three  families.  §  The  improvement  in  their  manner 

t  NOTE.— This,  it  will  be  remembered,  Avas  something  entirely  different 
from  the  mission  day-school  taught  by  Mr.  Woodbridg*.  In  the  latter,  all  the 
children  of  the  settlement,  white  and  Indian,  received  instruction.  The  board 
ing  or  "charity"  school  Avas  designed  to  train  its  pupils  in  useful  occupations 
as  well  as  in  book  knowledge.  It  was  a  continuation  of  the  work  supported 
by  Mr.  Hollis,  begun  In  Mr.  Sergeant's  own  home  and  continued  in  the 
home  of  a  Captain  Kellogg  of  Newington,  Connecticut. 

Those  who  are  so  ill-informed  as  to  think  that  training  for  usefulness  in 
the  present  life  is  commonly  neglected  in  mission  work  may  be  surprised  to 
learn  that  as  far  back  as  1738  the  missionary  society  made  an  appropriation  of 
money  to  buy  agricultural  implements  for  the  Indians  at  Stockbridge. 

I  NOTE.— E.  W.  B.  Canning  (lately  deceased)  of  Stockbridge,  Massachu 
setts. 

§  NOTE.— E.  W.  B.  Canning.  The  number  of  white  families  had  also  in 
creased  to  twelve  or  thirteen. 


THE   CHURCH  IN   THE    WILDERNESS.  11 

of  living  was  more  noticeable  than  the  increase  in  their  number. 
He  found  them  living  in  "miserable  huts," — "bark  wigwams,"- 
"much  dispersed  and  often  moving  from  place  to  place."  f  When 
he  died  "twenty  of  the  fifty-three  families  liyed  in  frame  houses, 
and  more  than  that  number  cultivated,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent, 
productive  farms," 

Of  the  Indians  living  at  Stockbridge  when  Mr.  Sergeant  died, 
forty-two  were  members  of  the  church  and  one  hundred  twenty- 
nine  had  received  baptism.  In  all  Mr.  Sergeant  baptized  one  hun 
dred  eighty- two. 

Apparently  it  was  this  faithful  pastor  who  reduced  to  writing 
the  language  of  the  people  whom  he  made  his  own.  To  learn  it 
was  a  more  arduous  task,  he  thought,  than  to  acquire  all  the  learned 
languages  usually  taught  in  the  schools.  Of  his  abundant  labors 
in  translation  we  have  already  learned.  J  We  have  seen  that  in 
Indian  education  he  anticipated  what  seem  to  be  the  best  methods 
of  our  own  time.  In  temperance  legislation  he  led  whither  many 
fear  to  follow  even  yet.  And  of  this  work  a  great  part  was  done 
in  the  midst  of  the  alarms  of  war.  He  was  "a  man  of  such  singu 
lar  worth  and  such  various  excellence  that  his  equal  is  rarely  met 
with  in  the  church  of  Christ."  § 

t  NOTE.— Historical  Memoirs  by  Samuel  Hopkins  of  Longmeadow. 

|  NOTE.— While  at  Kaunaumeek  Mr.  Brainerd  translated  several  forms  ot 
prayer  and  some  of  the  Psalms  into  the  language  of  the  natives.  Apparently 
these  Psalms  were  translated  into  metrical  form,  for  he  taught  his  people  to 
sing  them.  The  Muh-he-ka  ne-ok  have  always  been  fond  of  singing. 

§  NOTE  .-Samuel  Hopkins  of  Longmeadow. 


CHAPTER       II, 


LOSS    OF    THE    NEW    ENGLAND    HOME. 

After  Mr.  Sergeant/s  death  the  charge  of  the  mission  devolved 
for  a  time  upon  Mr.  Woodbridge,  but  in  July,  1751,  Jonathan  Ed 
wards  became  pastor  of  the  Stockbridge  church,  f  Few  New  Eng 
land  churches  would,  at  that  time,  have  offered  him  their  pulpit.  J. 
During  his  pastorate  the  French  and  Indian  war  was  at  its  hight. 
Friends  thought  that  Mr.  Edwards  was  in  danger  and  advised  him 
to  seek  a  safer  place  than  Stockbridge.  But  he  declined  to  leave 
his  flock.  His  people  were  steadfast  friends  of  the  colonists  and 
the  English.  Almost  every  man  among  themr  capable  of  bearing 
arms,  went  with  Governor  Shirley  in  1755  on  his  expedition 
against  Niagara,  They  rendered  most  efficient  service.  For  the 
protection  of  the  settlers  of  western  Massachusetts,  the  little  Indian 
settlement  at  Stockbridge  was  better  than  a  fort. 

t  NOTE.— The  place  had  been  offered  to  his  former  pupil  in  theology,  the 
younger  Samuel  Hopkins,  of  (what  is  now)  Great  Harrington,  a  parish  almost 
equally  exposed  to  the  dangers  ot  war.  The  larger  salary  at  Stockbridge  (paid 
by  the  Scotch  Society)  was,  perhaps,  a  reason  why  Hopkins  declined  the  posi 
tion  and  urged  the  choice  of  Mr.  Edwards. 

t  NOTE.— It  would  require  a  special  treatise  to  explain  just  why,  and  do 
justice  to  both  parties.  Edwards  was  a  metaphysician  much  inclined  to  mis 
take  the  results  of  his  own  subtile  and  abstract  reasonings  for  theology.  In 
personal  piety  lie  was  a  mystic.  Both  these  facts  seem  to  have  led  him  to  in 
sist  upon  evidence  of  consciousness  of  the  change  by  which  one  becomes  a 
Christian.  In  this  respect,  and  in  others,  his  work  was  like  that  of  Wesley  and 
VVhitefield.  Yet  we  hasten  to  add,— for  writing  on  these  subjects  is  like  walk- 
Ing  on  eggs  without  breaking  them,— that  none  of  these  great  revivalists 
meant  to  keep  out  of  the  church  any  one  who  was  really  a  Christian,  whether 
or  not  he  could  tell  how  he  became  one.  Naturally,  Edwards's  views  brought 
him  into  conflict  with  a  large  number  of  persons  who  stood  related  to  the 
church  by  what  was  called  the  "half-way  covenant."  These,  though  not  com 
municants,  were  of  Christian  belief,  correct  life,  had  themselves  been  baptized 
in  infancy,  and  desired  that  ordinance  for  their  children.  However,  Edwards's 
difficulties  at  Northampton,  whence  he  was  dismissed,  were  in  large  part  of  a 
practical  sort,  and  belong,  properly,  to  the  history  of  the  parish  and  to  his 
own  biography. 


LOSS   OF   THE   NEW  ENGLAND  HOME.  13 

Not  only  were  there  "fightings  without"  while  Mr.  Edwards 
was  at  Stockbridge;  there  was  something  worse  than  "fears  with 
in."  There  was  an  "Indian  ring"  there.  Of  this  Ephraim  Wil 
liams  (senior)  was  head  and  purse.  To  understand  the  mischief 
done  we  must  return  to  the  history  of  Mr.  Sergeant's  "charity" 
school.  It  flourished,  notwithstanding  the  death  of  its  founder. 
It  was  the  means  of  bringing  to  Stockbridge  Oneidas,  Mohawks, 
and  a  few  Tuscaroras,  to  educate  their  children.  But  Williams 
quarreled  with  their  teacher,  Mr.  Hawley,  (also  with  Mr.  Wood- 
bridge)  and  usurped  the  management  of  the  school.  In  disgust 
the  Oneidas  withdrew  their  children  and  returned  to  New  York. 
Meanwhile  rumors  reached  the  commissioners  of  the  mischief  that 
was  doing,  and  Mr.  Edwards  was  summoned  to  meet  them  at  Bos 
ton.  This  man  "whose  mind  was  so  abstracted  from  temporalities 
as  to  be  unable  to  tell  the  number  of  his  cows,"  nevertheless  was 
successful  in  vanquishing  the  Williams  "ring,"  and  soon  thereafter 
the  chief  evil-doer  removed  from  Stockbridge.  f  But  the  "mis 
chief  done  was  irreparable.  The  Oneida  pupils  had  gone  and  re 
fused  to  return;  the  Mohawks  lingered  a  little  longer  and  then  left 
also.  Mr.  Hawley  followed  them  and  renewed  his  labors  on  the 
New  York  reservation  until  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolutionary 
war."  I  Thus  the  school,  which  in  1750  enrolled  sixty  pupils,  § 
seems  to  have  been  broken  up.  At  least  we  hear  again  of  boys  who 
had  been  sent  from  home  to  be  taught.  || 

The  Indian  parishioners  of  Mr.  Edwards  became  greatly  at 
tached  to  him  and  his  family  and  he  to  them.  But  though  he 
made  their  language  the  subject  of  a  treatise/"  he  never  learned  to 
preach  in  it.  Those  who  have  heard  in  a  polyglot  assembly  an  ad 
dress  delivered  in  one  language  and  translated  into  another,  will 
know  how  greatly  the  effectiveness  of  his  work  must  have  been  les- 

t  NOTE.— "He  died  under  a  dense  cloud,"  wrote  Professor  Arthur  Latham 
Perry  of  Williams  college,  under  date  of  10th  July,  18t)3. 

}  NOTE.— E.  W.  B.  Canning. 

§  NOTE.— Including,  probably,  the  thirty-six  supported  by  Mr.  Hollis. 
The  expression  on  page  seven  is  at  fault  in  its  implication  that  this  maximum 
number  was  reached  during  Mr.  Sergeant's  life.  Apparently  only  twelve 
were  then  thus  maintained. 

||  NOTE.— Under  date  of  1756,  May  31st,  (old  style),  the  famous  theologian 
of  Bethlem,  Connecticut,  Joseph  Bellamy,  reports  to  Mr.  Edwards  concerning 
some  Indian  boys  in  his  own  family. 

s 


14  LOSS   OF   THE  NEW  ENGLAND  HOME. 

sened.  But,  true  to  his  great  character,  he  was  faithful  to  his 
humble  charge,  and  would  not  leave  it,  even  at  the  invitation  to  be 
come  president  of  the  college  of  New  Jersey  (Princeton)  until  ad 
vised  by  what  was  practically  a  council  of  ministers  that  it  was  his 
duty  to  do  so.  \  Seldom  did  he  shed  tears  in  the  presence  of 
others.  But  when  this  decision  of  his  friends  was  made  known  to 
him  he  wept.  Scarcely  had  he  assumed  the  duties  of  his  new  office 
when  he  died,  22nd  of  March,  1758. 

No  doubt  Edwards  found  the  retirement  of  Stockbridge  favor 
able  for  his  theological  and  metaphysical  studies.  There  he  pro 
duced  four  of  his  treatises,  one  of  which  is  his  best  known  work, 
"The  Freedom  of  the  Human  Will."  J 

Stephen  West,  afterwards  doctor  of  divinity, — the  title  meant 
something  then, — succeeded  President  Edwards.  He  was  'intro 
duced  to  the  town"  November,  1758,  and  ordained  on  the  13th  of 
June,  1759.  Not  many  years  afterward  the  story  of  the  camel  that 
got  his  nose  into  the  tent  found  in  the  case  of  the  Muh-he-ka-ne- 
ok  another  application.  The  white  population  of  Stockbridge  be- 

t  NOTE.— Edwards's  letter  to  the  trustees  of  the  college  is  a  curious  bit  of 
reading  and  gives  the  impression  that  the  writer  of  it  was  sadly  deficient  in  a 
sense  of  the  humorous.  He  seems  to  have  lacked  also,  what  very  few  men  do 
lack,  a  sufficiently  high  estimate  of  himself.  Thus  he  says  :  "My  defects  unfit 
me  tor  such  an  undertaking,  many  of  which  are  generally  known,  besides 
others  of  which  my  heart  is  conscious.  I  have  a  constitution,  in  many  re 
spects,  peculiarly  unhappy,  attended  with  flaccid  solids,  scarce  fluids,  and  a 
low  tide  of  spirits,  often  occasioning  a  kind  of  childish  weakness  and  con- 
temptibleness  of  speech,  presence  and  demeanour.with  a  disagreeable  dulness 
and  stiffness,  much  unfitting  me  for  conversation,  but  more  especially  for  the 
government  of  a  college." 
t  NOTE.— 

In  the  church  of  the  wilderness  Edwards  wrought, 

Shaping  his  creed  at  the  forge  of  thought : 

And  with  Thor's  own  hammer  welded  and  bent 

The  iron  links  of  his  argument, 

Which  strove  to  grasp  in  its  mighty  span 

The  purpose  of  God  and  the  fate  of  man! 

Yet  faithful  still,  in  his  daily  round 

To  the  weak,  and  the  poor,  and  the  sin-sick  found, 

The  schoolman's  lore  and  the  casuist's  art 

Drew  warmth  and  life  from  his  fervent  heart. 

Had  he  not  seen  in  the  solitudes 

Of  his  deep  and  dark  Northampton  woods 

A  vision  of  love  about  him  fall  ? 

—  Whittier,  in  "  The  Preacher." 


LOSS  OF  THE  NEW  ENGLAND  HOME.  15 

came  more  numerous  than  the  Indian,  f  In  1775  Dr.  West  intrust 
ed  the  care  of  the  Indian  portion  of  his  flock  to  Mr.  John  Sergeant, 
son  of  the  original  founder  of  the  settlement. 

This  was  the  time  of  the  American  Revolution.  The  Stock- 
bridges  took  sides  with  our  ancestors.  On  the  30th  of  June  of  this 
same  year  (1775)  letters  and  speeches  from  the  Stockbridge  In 
dians  were  laid  before  Congress  and  read.  The  committee  on  In 
dian  affairs  was  directed  to  prepare  "proper  talks"  to  the  different 
tribes  of  Indians.  It  was  also  resolved  "that  the  securing  and 
preserving  the  friendship  of  the  Indian  nations  appears  to  be  a 
subject  of  the  utmost  moment  to  the  colonies."  In  the  memorable 
year  1776,  August  7th,  Washington  wrote  to  Timothy  Edwards, 
then  commissioner  for  Indian  affairs,  on  the  subject  of  employing 
the  Stockbridges  in  the  service  of  the  United  States,  Some  of 
them  "fought  through  all  the  war,  threaded  the  wilderness  with 
Arnold  to  Canada,  aided  in  compelling  the  surrender  of  Burgoyne 
and  made  the  Jersey  campaigns  with  Washington."  "The  Stock- 
bridges,"  says  the  British  Lieutenant- Colonel  Simcoe,  writing  of 
an  affair  in  which  more  than  thirty  of  them  lost  their  lives,  "about 
sixty  in  number,  excellent  marksmen,  had  just  joined  Mr.  Wash 
ington's  army."  They  were  under  command  of  one  of  their  num 
ber,  Daniel  (or  Abraham)  Ninham,  who  fell  with  his  men.  This 
skirmish  or,  rather,  slaughter,  took  place  1778,  August  31st,  near 
White  Plains,  New  York,  where  "Mr."  Washington  was  then  com 
manding. 

Thus  the  Stockbridges  did  not  content  themselves  with  send 
ing  speeches  to  Congress  nor  with  addressing  the  Massachusetts 
legislature  as  one  of  their  chiefs  did  in  1779.  A  large  proportion 
of  their  most  promising  young  men  were  killed  in  battle.  J  Per- 

t  NOTE.— Very  possibly,  also,  the  "Indian  ring"  already  mentioned,  had 
sought,  even  years  before,  to  bring  about  the  removal  of  the  Indians  from 
Stockbridge. 

J  NOTE.— Our  Wisconsin  state  historical  society  possesses  a  collection 
called  partly  in  irony  and  partly  in  hope  an  art  gallery.  In  the  catalogue 
thereof  we  find  the  following: 

"98.    Moshuebee. 

"A  very  aged  woman  of  the  Stockbridge  tribe  who  died  about  1867,  sup 
posed  to  have  been  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  years  of  age.  She  is  said  to 
have  had  three  sons  engaged  in  the  Revolutionary  -war,  one  of  whom  lost  his 


16  LOSS   OF   THE  NEW  ENGLAND  HOME. 

haps  the  tribe  has  never  recovered  from  losses  of  men,  homes  and 
character  then  suffered.  We  should  remember  this  if  we  are  in 
clined  to  think  of  its  present  condition  almost  with  contempt.  Nor 
should  we  forget  that  too  often  then,  as  in  later  yeais,  drunkenness 
was  made  easy  for  them.  At  the  close  of  the  war,  apparently  after 
the  warriors  had  returned  home,  a  barbecue  was  prepared  for  them 
by  command  of  Washington.  Whisky  was  furnished,  we  are  sorry  to 
add,  even  though  their  pastor  presided  at  one  of  their  tables.  This 
suggestion  of  what  camp  and  social  life  then  was,  prepares  us  for 
the  sorrowful  statement  that  many  of  those  who  survived  the  dan 
gers  of  war  fell  victims  to  the  habits  of  idleness  and  intemperance. 
In  these  ways  many  got  into  debt  to  their  white  neighbors  and  lost 
their  lands.  So  the  tribe  sought  a  new  home.  They  removed  to 
a  tract  of  land  in  New  York,  part  of  which  is  now  in  Madison  coun 
ty  and  part  in  Oneida.  Hither  they  came  at  the  invitation  of  the 
Oneidas  whom,  it  is  said,  they  had  once  saved  from  a  powerful 
enemy.  This  place  was  secured  to  them,  perhaps/Vhen,  1774, 
October  24th,  the  Oneidas  gave  land  f  also  to  fragments  of 
various  tribes  J  who,  1775,  October  20th,  organized  a  new  "nation" 
called  the  Brothertowns.  In  this  westward  movement  these  pre 
ceded  the  Muh-he-ka-ne-ok  who  did  not  come  until  after  the  Rev 
olution.  Then  the  little  band  of  ninety,  with  whom  the  elder  Ser 
geant  began  his  missionary  labor,  had  increased  to  four  hundred  § 
or  four  hundred  twenty.  ||  A  very  few  remained  at  Stockbridge,  no 
longer  the  home  of  the  Muh-he-ka-ne-ok,  though  it  had  been  their^ 
for  almost  half  a  century. 

f  NOTE.— Fourteen  miles  south  of  where  the  city  of  TJtica,  New  York,  now 
stands. 

J  NOTE.— Narragansetts,  Pequots,  Montauks,  Mohegans  and  Nn,nticoke9 
(Nahanticks).  Thomas  Commuck,  one  of  the  Brothertowns,  adds  to  this  list 
the  Farmingtons,  wherever  they  were.  See  Wisconsin  Historical  Collections, 
volume  IV,  page  292. 

§  NOTE. — According  to  Mr.  Canning. 

||  NOTE.— The  number  given  by  a  local  historian  as  of  those  who  re 
moved  to  New  York.  See,  however,  the  statement  on  page  18  in  regard  to  the 
population  of  New  Stockbridge. 


CHAPTER      III. 


NEW  STOCKBRIDGE   AND  A  SECOND   REMOVAL, 

Near  the  Brothertown  settlement  and  about  one  hundred  sixty 
miles  from  their  former  home,  the  Muh-he-ka-ne-ok  built  a  village 
which  they  named  New  Stockbridge.  f  Thither  the  tribe  removed 
in  1785-6,  says  Miss  Jones.  More  likely  the  movement  began  in 
1783  and  continued  until  1788.  But  it  was  in  1785,  before  their  de 
parture  from  the  Massachusetts  home,  that  sixteen  Indian  members 
of  the  old  IStockbridge  church  formed  a  new  one  which  removed 
first  to  New  York  and  years  later  to  Wisconsin.  Mr.  Sergeant  hes^ 
itated  to  go  with  his  people  but  went  the  next  year.  Then  he 
found  that  Rev.  Samson  Occum  J  had  gained  favor  with  many  of 
the  Stockbridges.  Mr.  Occum  died  1792,  July  14th,  and  the 
division  which  followed  Mr.  Sergeant's  coming  was  healed.  The 
"Honorable  Society  in  Scotland* 'which  had  generously  paid  arrear 
ages  incurred  during  the  war,  again  helped  in  the  support  of  the 
pastor.  Some  aid  from  this  source  was  continued  until  after  the 
tribe  removed  to  Wisconsin  and  the  church  was  under  the  care  of 
our  own  Rev.  Cutting  Marsh, 

In  1792  the  Stockbridges  and  their  neighbors,  the  Six  Nations, 
were  invited  to  Philadelphia  by  President  Washington  "that  meas- 

life  in  the  service,  and  she  was  a  camp-follower  of  the  patriot  army." 

Unfortunately  the  catalogue  does  not  tell  who  indulged  the  supposition 
concerning  the  woman's  age,  nor  who  made  the  statement  about  her  sons. 
[Continued  from  page  15.J 

t  NOTE.— In  the  town  where  they  made  their  settlement  there  was  born, 
1836,  October  10th,  to  a  Methodist  clergyman,  a  son,  William  Dempster  Hoard, 
lately  governor  of  Wisconsin,  and  more  honored  in  his  defeat  in  1890  than  two 
years  before  in  his  election. 

|  NOTE.— This  Indian  minister  Occum  was  a  man  of  such  power  as  a 
preacher  that  he  was  once  seat  to  Great  Britain  to  solicit  funds  for  More '8 
Charity  School,  an  institution  since  developed  into  Dartmouth  college.  While 
in  England  he  had  the  honor  of  preaching  before  King  George  III.  More,  per- 
haps,  than  to  any  other  one  man  the  credit  of  organizing  the  Brothertown 
"nation"  is  due  to  Occum. 


18  NEW    STOCKBRIDGE 

ures  might  be  concerted  to  impart  such  of  the  blessings  of  civiliza 
tion  as  might  suit  their  condition."  The  interview  between  their 
representatives  and  the  President  seems  to  have  been  mutually 
pleasant. 

In  1796  they  had  a  visit  from  Dr.  Jedidiah  Moi-se,  f  then  one 
of  the  trustees  of  the  still  existing  (Boston)  society  for  Propagating 
the  Gospel  among  the  Indians.  J  At  that  time  the  population  of 
New  Stockbridge  was  about  three  hundred,  a  number  soon  increas 
ed.  None  were  professed  pagans  though  only  about  thirty  were 
members  of  the  church.  About  two-thirds  of  the  men  and  nine- 
tenths  of  the  women  were  considered  industrious.  In  this  year  a 
white  man  was  convicted  of  bringing  liquor  into  the  "nation,"  an 
act  contrary  to  tribal  law.  Soon  after,  through  Mr.  Sergeant's  in 
fluence,  the  legislature  of  New  York  passed  an  act  forbidding  the  sale 
of  liquor  to  these  Indians.  For  his  action  in  this  matter  the  worthy 
pastor  was  bitterly  persecuted.  A  term,  "white  heathen/'  which  he 
uses  more  than  once,  probably  acquired  vivid  significance  at  this 
time.  His  people  were  tempted  and  ill-treated.  While  Indians 
sought  to  keep  the  Sabbath,  white  men  violated  it.  Articles  would 
be  pressed  upon  the  Indians  in  the  way  of  sale,  and  later  those 
who  supposed  themselves  to  be  honest  purchasers  would  be  arrest 
ed  as  thieves  and  the  possession  of  what  they  had  bought  would 
be  used  as  evidence  against  them.  It  may  be,  as  old  President 
Dwight  of  Yale  noted  in  his  journal  of  "travels,"  1798,  September 
20th,  when  he  visited  their  former  home  in  Massachusetts,  "the 
body  of  them  have,  in  many  respects,  sustained  a  very  imperfect 
character."  However,  when  we  remember  the  good  man's  high 
standard  of  character,  and  read  his  other  statement,  that  "several 
of  them  have  been  eminent  for  their  understanding  and  more  for 
their  piety,"  we  do  not  doubt  that  they  compared  favorably  with 
their  white  neighbors. 

There  occurred  in  1798  a  remarkable  admission  to  the  church. 
One  of  the  Munsee  tribe,  §  seeking  knowledge  of  the  true  God,  bad 

t  NOTE.— Father  of  the  inventor  of  the  telegraph. 

t  NOTE.— The  organization,  in  1787,  of  this  society,  which  now  co-operates 
with  the  American  Missionary  Association,  is  one  of  the  evidences  of  the  vi 
tality  of  our  churches  in  that  unhappy  time. 

§  NOTE.- A  branch  of  the  Delawares  (Leni-Lennappes) .  The  Munsees  seem 
to  have  been  scattered  in  consequence  of  having  taken  sides  against  the  colo- 


AND  A  SECOND  REMOVAL.  19 


left  wife  and   home  and  come  among  the  Stockbridges,    He 
baptized  by  the  appropriate  name  of  Abraham. 

In  1802  the  Stockbridges  sent  a  delegation  to  the  Delawares, 
whom,  after  an  Indian  fashion,  they  called  their  grandfathers,  and 
to  some  other  tribes,  to  urge  them  to  receive  the  gospel.  Of  this 
Mr.  Sergeant  writes: 

"A  council  was  held  at  Wappecommehkoke  on  the  banks  of 
the  White  river,  by  Delawares  and  the  delegates  of  the  Moheakun- 
nuk  nation.  The  former  then  accepted  all  the  proposals  made  by 
the  latter,  among  which  was  civilization,  of  which,  said  the  chief 
(Tatepahqsect),  'we  take  hold  with  both  hands.'  " 

The  Stockbridges  brought  to  New  York  the  Puritan  institution 
of  Thanksgiving.  For  the  most  part,  while  there  they  taught  and 
sustained  their  own  schools.  Several  of  their  young  people  were 
sent  from  home  for  higher  instruction.  One  of  these,  a  pupil  in  a 
"select  school"  kept  by  Miss  Nancy  Royce  of  Clinton,  New  York, 
became  the  first  school-mistress  in  Wisconsin. 

Though  at  first  the  Indians  in  this  new  settlement,  owing  to 
the  distance  from  the  whites/  —  alas,  that  we  have  to  say  so!—  were 
less  exposed  than  before  to  temptation,  and  though  the^  and  Mr. 
Sergeant  fought  hard  against  their  great  enemy,  strong  drink,  the 
better  men  of  the  younger  generation  came  to  feel  the  need  of  an 
other  removal.  In  this  movement  Solomon  U.  Hendrick,  John  Me- 
toxen  and  perhaps  Austin  E.  Quinney,  were  leaders.  To  free  their 
tribe  from  the  allurements  of  the  white  man's  grog-shop,  and  foi 
other  reasons,  they  urged  removal  to  Indiana  where  a  tract  of  land 
on  White  river  had  been  given  by  the  Miamis  more  than  a  century 
before  to  the  Stockbridges  and  their  kinsmen,  the  unfortunate  Del 
awares.  Here  for  many  years  there  had  been  of  the  latter  tribe  a 
settlement  which  about  1818  numbered  eight  hundred  souls.  The 
title  of  the  Stockbridges  to  this  land  was,  in  a  carefully  guarded 
manner,  attested  by  President  Jefferson,  1808,  December  21st. 

In  1810  and  for  some  years  later,  one  of  the  Stockbridges, 
Hendrick  Aupaumut,  a  soldier  in  the  American  army  at  the  time  of 
Burgoyne's  surrender,  was  in  the  White  river  country  where  he  was 

nists  in  the  American  Revolution.  From  homes  in  New  York,  Canada  and  per 
haps  Indiana  and  elsewhere,  some  came  in  later  years  to  Wisconsin,  where 
they  have  united  with  the  Stockbridges. 


20  NEW    STOCKBRIDGE 

one  of  the  most  effective  opponents  of  Teeumseh  and  his  brother 
Elskwatawa,  the  "prophet,"  in  the  war  in  which  General  (after 
ward  President)  Harrison  won  his  millitary  reputation.  In  the 
war  of  1812  which,  to  that  part  of  the  West,  was  merely  a  continu 
ance  of  one  already  existing,  Aupaumut,  who  dropped  his  Indian 
surname  for  Hendrick,  took  the  American  side,  and  became,  if  he 
were  not  already,  an  officer  in  our  army,  f  His  son  Solomon, 
named  above,  about  1817  succeeded  the  father,  once  a  worthy  man 
but  in  his  later  years  a  victim  of  drunkenness,  as  chief  of  the  tribe, 
but  dying,  was  in  turn  followed  by  John  Metoxen. 

In  the  spring  of  1817  the  Stockbridges  were  made  uneasy  by 
the  report  that  the  land  to  which  they  had  a  claim,  had  been  sold 
by  the  Delawares.  But  these,  in  answer  to  a  letter  of  inquiry,  de 
nied  the  charge,  adding:  "When  we  rise  in  the  morning,  we  have 
our  eyes  fixed  toward  the  way  you  are  to  come,  in  expectation  of 
seeing  you  coming  to  sit  down  by  us  as  a  nation." 

Accordingly,  some  of  the  Stockbridges  prepared  for  removal. 
Two  or  three  families  went  that  year.  In  June,  1818,  Mr.  Sergeant 
thus  wrote  to  Dr.  Morse:  "About  five  families  of  my  people  will 
start  for  White  river  in  three  weeks.  But  they  are  still  troubled 
by  reports  that  the  state  government  of  Indiana  intends  to  purchase 
the  Indian  lands."  J 

Others  were  added  to  the  number  of  those  proposing  to  emi 
grate.  Mr.  Sergeant  collected  the  whole  tribe  on  Friday,  24th  of 
July,  of  that  year,  "with  the  view  to  have  them  present  at  the 
forming  of  a  church  from  their  tribe"  of  those  "who,  with  a  num- 

f  NOTE. — Rev.  Cutting  Marsh,  who  at  Statesburg  (South  Kaukaxina)  in 
the  summer  of  1830  stood  by  the  dying  bed  of  Aupaumut,  speaks  of  him  as  "cap 
tain"  and  says  that  his  commission  was  signed  by  Washington.  But  it  does 
not  appear  that  Mr.  Marsh  saw  the  document  and  the  old  warrior's  name  is 
not  to  be  found  in  the  list  of  Revolutionary  officers  at  the  Department  of  State. 
Yet  President  Jefferson,  in  the  attestation  ot  the  land-title  mentioned  above, 
calls  him  "captain." 

\  NOTE.— In  1813  the  state  of  New  York  bought  of  the  Stockbridge  tribe  a 
tract  comprising  four  thousand  live  hundred  acres.  Other  purchases  were 
made  in  1822,  '23,  '25,  '26,  '29  and  '30.  The  cost  of  removal  was  thus  provided 
for.  As  late  as  1842  and '47  agreements  were  executed  by  the  New  York  land 
commissioners  and  the  Stockbridges,  then  in  Wisconsin. 

A  visible  memorial  of  the  Stockbridges  in  New  York  for  many  years,  if 
not  at  the  present  time,  was  their  old  church,  built  under  the  pastorate  of  John 
Sergeant,  which,  removed  from  its  original  site,  was  used  as  a  house  of  wor 
ship  as  late  as  1872  by  the  Baptist  church  of  Cook's  Corners,  Madison  county. 


AND  A  SECOND  REMOVAL.  ~2l 

ber  of  others  of  the  tribe,  were  about  to  remove  and  form  a  new 
settlement."  On  that  day  or  the  following  a  church  of  eleven 
members  was  duly  organized.  It  was  apparently  Congregational 
and,  if  so,  was  probably  the  first  of  that  denomination  in  Indiana, 
as  it  certainly  was  in  Wisconsin.  But  in  accordance  with  the 
"plan  of  union"  between  Presbyterians  and  Oongregationalists,  it 
was  commended  to  the  Presbytery  of  Ohio.  J 


CH  APTER       I  V 


THE    CHURCH    OF    THE    PILGRIMAGE. 

But  this  Pilgrim  church  was  not  to  find  an  end  of  its  wander 
ing  as  soon  as  it  had  hoped  for.  In  September  we  read  in  the 
"Panoplist"  f  of  their  receiving  the  Sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Sup 
per  with  white  brethren  in  Ohio.  In  December  Mr.  Sergeant  wrote : 
"The  families  left  in  August,  consisting  of  a  third  part  of  my 
church-members,  and  a  quarter  part  of  the  tribes, — in  all  from  six 
ty  to  seventy  souls  from  Oneida.  They  did  not  set  out  on  their 
journey  so  soon  by  a  month  as  they  intended;  and  when  they  ar 
rived  the  lands  had  all  been  sold.  The  poor  Delawares  had  been 
forced  to  sell  their  lands."  This  news  reached  the  emigrants  while 
on  their  way.  Thereupon  some  turned  back,  but  John  Metoxen 
and  others,  perhaps  forty  in  number,  pushed  on  and  made  their 
home  in  Ohio  and  Indiana  for  somewhat  less  than  five  years. 
While  here  they  showed  the  vigor  of  their  religious  training  by  hold 
ing  meetings  on  Sundays,  in  which  the  reading  of  Scott's  commen 
tary  took  the  place  of  sermons.  We  learn  that  in  May,  1819,  our  emi 
grants  were  so  near  Piqua,  Ohio,  that  the  (Presbyterian?)  pastor 
there  often  preached  to  them.  As  white  men  would  be,  under  like 
circumstances,  they  were  sadly  divided  as  to  what  was  best  to  be 
done.  "At  length  it  was  determined  to  unite  at  White  river,  and 

t  NOTE.— Now  the  "Missionary  Herald." 
J  NOTE.— Miss  Electa  Jones. 


22  THE   CHURCH   OF   THE  PILGRIMAGE. 

endeavor  to  regain  the  land  by  application  to  the  government.  But 
their  efforts  were  unavailing,  and  sickness  wasted  both  their  num 
bers  and  their  spirits." 

Soon,  no  doubt,  they  turned  their  eyes  to  Green  Bay.  It  is 
said  the  Stockbridges  had  a  century- old  invitation  from  their  kin 
dred  tribes  there  to  come  and  dwell  with  them.  Of  much  more 
practical  worth  than  this  were  the  efforts  then  making  in  their  be 
half  by  Dr.  Morse  and  others,  f  With  the  delegation  of  1822,  some 
of  the  Stockbridges  of  New  York  had  come  as  immigrants.  These 
settled  that  autumn  at  Grand  Kaukaulin  (now  South  Kaukauna). 
To  this  place  John  Metoxen  and  his  party  from  Indiana  came  that 
year,  or,  according  to  A.  G.  Ellis,  in  1823.  In  this  statement  Mr. 
Ellis  probably  made  an  error  which  he  himself  helps  to  correct  in 
volume  II.  of  the  Wisconsin  Historical  Collections,  where  he  tells  us 
that  "the  small  immigrant  party  of  some  [about]  fifty  of  the  Stock- 
bridges,  which  came  on  this  year,  located  late  in  the  fall  at 
Grand  Kakalin."  But  these  apparently  did  not  come  with  the 
delegation  mentioned  above.  It  is  my  opinion  that  they 
came  from  Indiana,  not  from  New  York,  and  Mr.  Ellis  gives  the 
year  of  their  arrival  as  1822.  The  homeless  wanderers  in  the 
W'hite  river  country  would  be  anxious  enough  to  come  to  a  place 
which  they  could  call  their  own.  That  having  been  secured,  it  is 
not  likely  that  they  would  long  delay  their  coming.  Thus  it  is 
probable,  that  with  its  attendant  company  in  which,  it  may  be, 
were  at  least  some  of  the  Munsees,  the  church  of  the  pilgrimage 
under  the  leadership  of  John  Metoxen  came  from  Indiana  to  the 
Fox  river  country,  in  the  autumn  of  1822.  On  their  way, 
after  reaching  Lake  Michigan,  these  poor  emigrants  went  in  part 
by  canoes  upon  the  water  and  in  part  on  foot  upon  the  land. 

t  NOTE.— linger  commission  from  John  C.  Calhoun,  then  secretary  of  war, 
find  also  under  the  auspices  of  the  Northern  Missionary  Society  of  New  York, 
Jedidiah  Morse,  D.  D.,  a  Congregational  minister  then  of  New  Haven,  Connec 
ticut,  a  steadfast  friend  of  the  Muh  he-ka-ne-ok,  came  west  in  the  sum 
mer  of  1^20.  He  preached  at  Fort  Howard,  July  9th,  the  first  Protestant 
sermon  in  (what  is  now)  Wisconsin.  One  of  his  objects  was  to  find  here,  it 
possible,  a  home  for  the  Stockbridges.  These  are  to  be  counted  among  the 
"New  York  Indians"  who  in  1821  and  1.S22  sent  hither  delegations  to  secure 
from  the  Winnebagos  and  the  Menomoneos  places  for  homes.  After  a  long 
time,  much  negotiation  and  considerable  pressure  in  their  behalf,  from  the 
United  States  government,  the  "New  York  Indians"  finally  secured  land  on 
and  near  Fox  river  and  Lake  Winnebago. 


THE   CHURCH  OF   THE  PILGRIMAGE.  23 

"They  drove  their  cattle  along  the  shore,  camping  where  night 
overtook  them.  They  swam  their  cattle  across  the  streams.  They 
had  great  difficulty  in  getting  them  to  cross  the  river  at  Chicago, 
but  finally  one  large  animal,  bolder  than  the  rest,  plunged  in  and 
the  others  followed."  f  It  would  be  a  bold  ox  that  would  swim 
the  Chicago  river  in  these  days ! 

Thus  came  to  Wisconsin  its  first  Puritan  church.  There  wras 
here  neither  minister  nor  priest.  But  these  spiritual  children  of 
Sergeant  and  Edwards  did  not,  in  the  wilderness,  forget  their  God. 
"They  kept  up  their  meetings  here  also." 

They  had  a  worthy  leader  in  Metoxen  whose  knowledge  of 
Scripture  is  shown  in  a  letter  written,  1823,  December  2nd,  from 
;'Cades,  Green  Bay"  (probably  Grand  Kaukaulin),  to  John  Ser 
geant,  his  old  pastor.  Mentioning  the  arrival  of  a  new  band  he 
says :  "Our  brethren  appear  to  be  quite  different  from  what  they 
were  when  I  first  saw  them.  I  trust  that  some  of  them  are  choos 
ing  God  for  their  portion,  remembering  that  he  is  the  only  source 
of  true  happiness  for  the  immortal  soul,  and  grieving  because  they 
had  forsaken  the  only  King  of  the  universe.  *  *  *  * 
It  is  true,  indeed,  that  the  soul  was  made  for  God, — it  came  from 
God  and  can  never  be  happy  but  in  returning  to  him  again.  Thus 
we  may  have  reason  to  believe  that  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is  mov 
ing  upon  them,  saying,  'Arise  ye  and  depart,  for  this  is  not  your 
rest,  [f  ye  then  be  risen  with  Christ,  seek  those  things  which  are 
above,  where  Christ  sitteth  on  the  right  hand  of  God.'  " 

Special  significance  is  given  to  this  letter  by  the  remark :  "He 
and  Mrs.  Metoxen  found  their  backsliding  brethren  in  deep  waters. 
They  had  exposed  themselves  to  err  by  the  use  of  ardent  spirits."!' 
What  temperance  wrork  in  Wisconsin  is  of  earlier  date  than  that  of 
these  Indian  Puritans,  John  Metoxen  and  his  wife?  With  them 
the  struggle  against  intoxicants  was  part  of  the  gospel. 

t  NOTE.— Miss  Helen  C.  Storm,  of  Stockbridge,  Wisconsin. 

J  NOTE — Even  some  of  the  delegation  of  1821  were  guilty  of  drunkenness. 


CH  A PT  E  V 


IN     UNNAMED    WISCONSIN. 

We  take  up  the  story  of  those  who  had  been  left  behind  in 
New  York.  In  1822,  as  we  have  seen,  the  removal  westward  began. 
"In  1825,"  says  one,  writing  of  Kaukauna,  "the  Stockbridge  and 
Munsee  Indians  were  occupying  the  south  side  of  the  Fox  river  at 
this  point."  But  the  removal  was  not  completed  until  1829.  In 
that  year  John  W.  Quinney  gathered  together  the  last,  about  thirty 
of  the  poor,  and  brought  them  to  the  new  home  of  their  people. 

After  Mr.  Sergeant's  death,  Rev.  Jesse  Miner  became  pastor  of 
the  New  Stockbridge  church,  as  we  learn  from  the  third  report  of 
the  "United  Domestic  Missionary  Society."  At  the  meeting 
of  this  body, — the  immediate  predecessor  of  the  American,  now 
the  Congregational,  Home  Missionary  Society,  —  held  "Fri 
day  evening,  May  13th,  1825,"  in  New  York  city,  Governor 
DeWitt  Clinton  and  Chancellor  James  Kent  appear  as  mem 
bers.  Aid  was  granted  to  the  New  Stockbridge  church. 
In  July,  1827,  Mr.  Miner  came  west  under  the  auspices 
of  the  American  Board,  to  visit  the  Stockbridge  Christians 
and  spent  some  weeks  among  them.  In  the  new  home  of  each,  the 
church  of  the  pilgrimage  and  the  mother  church  from  New  York, 
became  one  again.  To  this  re-united  church  Mr.  Miner  administer 
ed  the  sacrament  and  admitted  members.  Thus  began  the  first 
pastorate  over  an  organized  Protestant  church  in  what  is  now  Wis 
consin. 

In  the  following  year,  1828,  he  returned,  bringing  his  family, 
to  make  a  home  with  his  people  at  what  was  then  called  Statesburg, 
now  South  Kaukauna.  J  In  the  "Missionary  Herald"  for  June, 

I  NOTE.— "This  missson  was  known  as  Moheakunnuk,  and  opened  June 
'20th,  1828."  Thus  wrote  Dr.  H.  B.  Tanner  under  date  of  1892,  January  12th.  The 
date  he  gives  may  be  that  of  the  coming  of  Mr.  Miner  and  family. 


IN  UNNAMED   WISCONSIN.  2& 

1829,  a  letter  from  him  reports  a  revival  and  several  additions  to 
the  church.  "Twenty-five  added  since  my  arrival,  fifteen  others 
indulging  hopes,"  But  the  hand  that  sent  the  glad  tidings  was 
even  then  forever  still.  His  pastorate  had  ended  with  his  life  on 
the  22nd  of  the  preceding  March.  Near  where  he  labored  in  life 
his  people  made  his  grave.  "I  am  sorry,"  writes  Mr.  Miner's 
daughter,  f  "that  I  can  tell  you  so  little  of  my  father.  An  old  In 
dian  woman  whom  I  met  six  years  ago,  who  had  belonged  to  his 
church,  said  that  he  was  like  a  father  to  the  Indians,  and  they  loved 
him  much.  They  gave  him  an  Indian  name,  Wah-nuh- wan-meet, 
which  means  Very  true  man.'  J  He  died  at  the  age  of  forty-seven. 
The  Indians  had  these  words  placed  on  his  tombstone :  'He  shall 
gather  the  outcasts  of  Israel  together.'  He  had  translated  many 
of  our  hymns  into  their  language,  forming  quite  a  hymn-book,  from 
which  they  sang  at  his  funeral.  My  father  lies  buried  in  the  cem 
etery  at  Kaukauna,  to  which  he  was  removed  from  the  old  mission 
burying-ground.  Metoxen  was  loved  of  my  father  and  revered  of 
my  elder  brothers."  § 

Under  Mr.  Miner's  pastorate,  perhaps  the  summer  of  his  first 
arrival,  the  Stockbridge  people  erected  the  first  Protestant  church 
on  Wisconsin  soil.  Preceding  Mr.  Miner's  second  arrival  at  Green 
Bay  in  1828,  came  thither  May  18th  of  that  year,  John  Y.  Smith 
who  afterward  filled  a  large  and  honorable  place  in  the  history  of 
our  state.  Employed  by  Mr.  Miner,  Mr.  Smith  came  "to  erect  or 
work  upon  the  mission  buildings."  Thus  it  is  possible  that  the 
church  (of  which  we  shall  hear  again)  was  not  built  until  1828. 

t  NOTE.— Mrs.  M.  A.  Whitney,  Grand  Crossing,  Illinois,  26th  of  May,  1891. 

J  NOTE.— Without  doubt  Mrs.  Whitney  is  in  error.  Jt  is  probable  that 
what  she  sought  to  transliterate  is  the  Muh-he-ka-ne-ew  term  "Wah-weh-nuh^ 
maht,"  "This  true  man."  Literally  it  may  be  "This  true  one,*'  for  the  word  for 
"man"  is  "mon-naow." 

§  NOTE.— The  stone  now  at  the  gra\Te  bears  the  inscription  (with  errors) ; 

IN  MEMORY  or 

JESSE     MINER, 

BORN  SEPT.  26,  1781. 

COMMENCED  THE  MOHEAKUMUK  MISSION 

AT  THIS  PLACE,  JUNE  20,  1828. 

DIED  MARCH  22,  1829, 
AGED  49. 


26'  IN   UNNAMED    WISCONSIN. 

Even  in  that  case,  it  was,  for  a  time,  the  only  one  in  what  was  soon 
to  be  Wisconsin,  for  the  combination  "church-and-school"  which 
the  Roman  Catholics  begun  at  Shantytown  in  1823  had  been 
burned. 

I  am  inclined  to  the  opinion  that  the  first  Statesburg  church, 
which  was  a  structure  of  the  kind  that  our  Indians  learned  to  buildr 
had  been  put  up  before  Mr.  Smith  came  thither,  and  that  his  first 
work  in  the  place  was  to  erect  the  missionary  residence.  This 
may  have  been  the  second  framed  house  in  what  is  now  Wiscon 
sin,  f  It  was  a  story  and  a  half  building  and  stood,  according  to 
the  recollection  of  Mr.  James  Madison  Boyd,  near  where  is  now  the 
round-house  of  the  (Lake  Shore)  Chicago  &  Northwestern  railway 
company.  Another  living  witness  J  thinks  that  the  church  was 
about  three-fourths  of  a  mile  from  Mr.  Miner's  house. 

The  "Winnebago  war"  of  June,  1827,  gave  the  Stockbridges 
and  Oneidas  an  opportunity  of  showing  their  allegiance  to  the 
United  States.  Sixty- two  of  them  joined  a  company  raised  by 
"General"  William  Dickinson  and  "Colonel"  Ebenezer  Childs. 
The  "war"  was  scarcely  more  than  several  atrocious  murders  in  the 
vicinity  of  Prairie  du  Chien.  There  is  reason  to  fear  that  associa 
tion  with  "Colonel"  Childs  would  offset  much  teaching  on  the 
subject  of  temperance  and  almost  every  other  virtue.  Those  who 
wonder  that  Christianity  has  accomplished  no  more  for  the  Indians 
should  remember  that  in  its  work  for  them  it  has  had  to  contend 
with  the  vices  of  civilization  as  well  as  with  those  of  savagery. 

There  probably  never  was  a  genuine  Puritan  church  without  a 
school  close  at  hand.  At  Statesburg  the  schoolmaster  soon  follow 
ed  the  minister.  On  Tuesday,  4th  of  November,  1828,  Augustus  T. 
Ambler  arrived  at  Statesburg.  He  came  to  establish  a  mission 
school  but  the  state  of  his  health  prevented  his  doing  so.  A 
change  of  field  did  not  long  preserve  his  life.  Going  southward, 

t  NOTE.— 8ee  Wisconsin  Historical  Collections,  Vol.  VII.  page  453.  The 
account  there  seems  to  be  somewhat  confused.  The  language  seems  to  indi 
cate  that  he  worked  on  a  mission-house  that  was  not  at  Kaukauna.  If  so,  it 
must  have  been  on  a  building  belonging  to  the  Episcopal  mission.  But  as  he 
had  been  employed  by  Mr.  Miner,  who  was  about  to  bring  hither  a  large  fam 
ily  and  would  certainly  need  a  house  for  them,  it  seems  probable  that  his  first 
work  was  done  on  the  missionary  home  at  Kaukauna. 

|  NOTE. — George  Thomas  Bennett,  born  at  Cedar  Hill,  Albany  count y,  New 
York,  22nd  of  August,  1823. 


IN  UNNAMED   WISCONSIN.  27 

he  died  in  1831  at  one  of  the  missions  among  the  Choctaws,  His 
place  as  teacher  was  taken  by  Miss  Electa  Wuh-weh-wee-nee-meew  f 
Quinney,  Wisconsin's  first  schoolmistress.  J  Before  this  there  had 
been  schools  at  Prairie  du  Chien  and  Green  Bay,  but  Miss  Quin- 
ney's  was  probably  the  first  free  school  within  the  present  limits  of 
our  state.  In  it  the  Bible  had  an  honored  place.  The  next  winter, 
that  of  1829-30,  Mr.  Jedidiah  I) wight  Stevens  was  teacher.  Prob 
ably  he  served  also  as  pastor  of  the  church,  for  Rev.  Cutting 
Marsh,  who  had  been  appointed  in  1829  as  Mr.  Miner's  successor, 
was  unable,  on  account  of  the  early  closing  of  navigation,  to  reach 
his  field  that  autumn.  "My  father,"  writes  Miss  S.  E.  Marsh,  "ar 
rived  among  the  Stockbridges  on  the  first  day  of  May,  1830,  and 
preached  his  first  sermon  to  them  the  next  day,  it  being  Sunday." 
Some  time  during  the  summer  he  stood  at  the  dying  bed  of  the  old 
revolutionary  soldier,  Hendrick  Aupaumut. 

In  his  "Tour  of  the  American  Lakes,"  published  in  London  in 
1833,  Rev.  Calvin  Colton,  §  afterwards  professor  in  Trinity  college, 
Hartford,  Connecticut,  writing  under  date  of  August  16th,  1830, 
gives  a  most  entertaining  account  of  the  Stockbridge  settlement  on 
Fox  river,  at  "Grande  Kawkawlin"  as  he  calls  it.  He  explains  that 
"Kawkawlin"  means  "falls"  or  "rapids,"  adding  that  "Grande"  is 
French  and  needs  no  explanation.  "I  am  now  writing,"  he  says, 
"from  the  mission  house  of  the  American  Board.  The  Stock- 
bridges  number  about  three  hundred  fifty  souls,  and  have  probably 
made  greater  attainments  in  the  English  language  and  manners, 
and  in  the  useful  arts  of  civilized  life,  and  also  in  the  Christian  re 
ligion,  than  any  other  tribe  of  the  aboriginees  on  the  continent; 
except  that  the  Brotherton  Indians  have  so  long  used  English  as 
to  have  lost  their  mother  tongue.  But  in  the  moral  state  of  society 
and  in  general  improvement  the  Brothertons  are  far  behind  the 
Stockbridges."  He  then,  as  already  noted,  describes  Dr.  Ays- 

t  NOTE.— Or,  "Wow-weh-wee-nee-meew." 

J  NOTE — Miss  Quinney's  school  has  been  called  the  first  in  Wisconsin. 
But  according  to  tho  information  available,  the  firt-t  Wisconsin  school  teacher 
was  Jean  Baptiste  Jacobs.  He  was  an  English  Jew  and  came  to  Green  Bay  in 
1£00,  having  lost  all  his  property  in  Canada  through  the  perfidy  of  his  brother. 
He  attempted  to  regain  fortune  in  the  fur  trade,  but  in  this  he  was  not  success* 
ful,  and  opened  a  school  at  Green  Bay  about  1803. 

§  NOTE. -Then  a  Congregationalist  or  Presbyterian.  In  1885  he  entered 
the  Episcopal  ministry. 


28-  IN   UNNAMED    WISCONSIN. 

couth's  gift,  f  It  was  kept  "in  a  kind  of  an  ark/'  suggestive  to 
Mr.  Colton  of  the  ark  of  the  covenant  among'  the  Hebrews-,  The 
day  before  was  Sunday  and  he  had  attended  service.  Amid  over 
hanging  trees  there  was  a  well-built  log  church,  used  also  as  a 
school.  It  would  seat  a  congregation  of  three  hundred.  There 
was-  a  Sunday-school  with  Indian  teachers  and  a  white  superinten 
dent  (probably  J.  D.  Stevens),  All  the  congregation  were  "neatly 
dressed  in  a  costume  about  half  way  between  the  European  habit 
and  that  of  the  wild  tribes,"  This,  to  Mr.  Colton's  mind,  suggest 
ed  the  degree  of  their  civilization.  "The  mea  seldom  wear  hats." 
There  were  differences  in  dress  indicating,  as  among  whites^  "social, 
standing,  degree  of  respectability,  and  domestic  wealth,"  The  af 
ternoon  sermon  was  "interpreted  for  the  benefit  of  the  small  portion 
of  the  tribe  who  do  not  understand  English."  The  singing  is  high 
ly  praised. 

"The  staff  and  office  of  parish  beadle"  particularly  interested 
our  traveler.  He  thinks  it  probable  that  the  office  with  its  pecu 
liar  duties  originated  in  the  time  of  John  Sergeant,  and  makes  no 
mention  of  the  probability  that  it  was  merely  a  transference  to  an 
Indian  church  of  a  custom,  that  of  choosing  a  tithing-man,  existing 
at  that  time  among  their  white  neighbors.  "The  staff  in  the  pres 
ent  instance  was  a  green  switch  about  ten  feet  long  which  the 
functionary  had  cut  from  the  wood  as  be  came  to  church."  This 
was  used  with  such  vigor  about  the  ears  of  at  least  one  disorderly 
boy  that  they  must  have  burned,  Mr.  Colton  thinks,  the  rest  of  the- 
day.  A  sleeping  adult  was  roused  by  hitting,  with  the  heavy  end 
of  the  "switch,"  the  stove-pipe  until  it  rang,  the  beadle  meanwhile 
crying  out  in  Indian,  "Wake  up  there!"  This  official  is  spoken  of 
as  severely  and  strictly  impartial,  and  our  traveler  does  not  doubt 
that  even  a  stranger  would  be  duly  admonished  if  there  should  be 

f  NOTE.— A  venerable  German  stadthalter(?)  was  so  much  interested  in  Mr. 
Colton's  narrative  that  he  sent  the  Stockbridges  twelve  of  the  finest  Bibles  to 
be  had  in  London. 

"There  were  also  twelve  Bibles  given  the  tribe  August  3rd,  1835,  by 
Charles,  Landgrave  of  Hesse  Denmark.  The  people  were  allowed  to  give 
away  to  destitute  tribes,  and  now  only  four  are  in  possession  and  only  one  fit 
for  the  pulpit,"— Mrs.  Sarah  J.  SHngerland,  1891,  May  26th. 

What  the  good  lady  (widow  of  Jeremiah  Slingerland)  means  by  "Hesse 
Denmark"  I  don't  know.  A  first  thought  is  of  Hesse  Darmstadt.  But  its  rulers 
are  grand  dukes  and  in  '35  Louis  II.  was  reigning  (1830-48). 


IN  UNNAMED   WISCONSIN.  29 

need.  Good  order  has  always  been  noted  as  a  characteristic  of  the 
religious  meetings  of  these  people.  On  this  particular  occasion  the 
preacher  was  manifestly  disturbed  though  the  congregation  re 
mained  unmoved,  taking  the  whole  preceding  as  a  matter  of 
course.  The  drowsy  one  gave  good  heed  to  the  rest  of  the  sermon, 
and  the  fact  is  noted  that  the  congregation  were  very  attentive. 

Another  thing  that  especially  interested  Mr.  Colton  was  the 
fact  that  after  the  benediction  the  congregation  sat  down,  givino- 
those  nearest  the  door  an  opportunity  to  retire.  Others  then  fol 
lowed  without  confusion. 

It  may  also  be  mentioned  here  that  when  these  people  first 
came  to  Wisconsin,  and  for  years  thereafter,  they  followed  the  old 
New  England  custom  of  beginning  the  Sabbath  at  sunset  Saturday 
evening. 

Writing  under  date  of  1831,  January  llth,  Mr.  Stevens  gives 
the  number  of  the  tribe  as  two  hundred  twenty-five.  Thus  it  is 
probable  that  Mr.  Colton's  "three  hundred  fifty"  was  an  over-esti 
mate.  There  were  in  the  church  fifteen  men,  twenty-seven  women, 
It  is  pleasant  to  read  in  a  later  communication  from  him  that  "on' 
the  last  Sabbath  in  January,  1832,  Rev.  Kichard  F.  Cadle,  super 
intendent  of  the  Episcopal  mission  at  Green  Bay,  administered  the 
sacrament."  Mr.  Cadle's  worth  redeemed  the  mission  which  he  had 
in  charge  from  the  reproach  which  the  mendacious  Eleazar  Wil 
liams  had  brought  upon  it.  In  the  autumn  of  1833  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Stevens  left  Statesburg.  Soon  they  began  work  among  the  Sioux, 
and  in  1835  established  a  mission  at  Lake  Harriet,  within  the  pres 
ent  limits  of  Minneapolis.  This  was  part  of  the  beginning  of  the  great 
work  which  has  practically  changed  the  character  of  that  tribe,  known 
from  the  time  of  Marquette  as  ferocious  and  dangerous  enemies;  a 
work  which,  begun  on  the  upper  Mississippi,  has  place  now  in  Ne 
braska  and  the  Dakotas  by  the  turbid  waters  of  the  Missouri,  f 

t  NOTE.- Work  was  done  for  the  Sioux  within  the  present  limits  of  out- 
own  state.  Two  men,  perhaps  from  the  St.  Crishona  seminary  though  more 
probably  from  the  mission  training  school  (both)  at  beautiful  Basel  in  Switzer 
land,  where  the  swift  Rhine  turns  northward  on  its  course  from  the  Alps  t© 
the  sea,  came  to  the  upper  Mississippi  region.  Amid  the  mountain-like  bluffs 
near  the  present  village  ot  Trempeauleau,  not  far  from  where  Nicholas  Perrot 
spent  the  winter  of  1685-6,  i  f  not  on  the  very  spot,  one  of  these  men ,  Rev  Daniel 
Gavin,  with  an  associate,  Louis  Straum,  whom  he  found  at  Prairie  da  Chien 


30  'IN   UNNAMED    WISCONSIN. 

Soon  the  whites  wanted  Statesburg.  To  be  sure  the  Indians 
had  made  farms  there  and  begun  to  improve  its  famous  water- 
power  by  building  a  saw-mill  and  beginning  a  grist-mill,  destined 
never  to  be  finished.  But  they  were  compelled  to  move  again. 
Part  of  our  story  is  told  in  extracts  frcm  a  pathetic  letter  dated 

1833,  October  Mth,  f  and  addresssd  to  the  American  Board: 

"We  wish  to  tell  you  that  our  hearts  are  glad,— that  we  are 
thankful,  first  to  God  for  giving  us  the  gospel,  the  Bible  and  teach 
ers,  and  next  to  you  for  sending  them  to  us.  The  good  people  be 
yond  the  great  waters  first  found  us  when  we  were  blind  and  ignor 
ant  and  wicked.  We  had  no  teachers,  no  Bible,  no  God.  no  Christ. 
We  worshipped  the  bad  spirit.  They  sent  us  the  good  book  and 
teachers  about  one  hundred  years  ago.  *  *  But  we  were 
very  dull  to  learn:  many  of  us  followed  after  strong  drink.  *  * 
As  a  tribe  we  were  nigh  to  ruin.  Then  we  came  to  this  country. 
Here  you  kindly  sent  us  teachers  who  have  done  much 
for  us.  *  *  Nearly  the  whole  tribe  have  become  temper 
ate  and  far  more  industrious  than  before.  *  *  Until  re 
cently  it  has  never  been  believed  by  us  that  the  whole  tribe  could 
be  converted  to  Christianity,  but  now  we  are  fully  convinced  and 
do  firmly  believe  that  the  whole  tribe  can,  not  only  be  fully  civil 
ized  but  brought  to  embrace  the  Christian  religion.  *  *  We 
expect  soon  to  leave  our  present  settlement  and  again 

to  commence  anew  in  the  wilderness.  Hard  as  this  is  we  have  en- 
mad  ethe  first  mortem  settlement  within  the  limits  of  Trempeaulean  county. 
His  Swiss  colleague,  Rev.  Samuel  Denton,  in  the  spring  of  1835,  established  a 
mission  where  is  now  the  village  of  Red  Wing,  Minnesota.  Rev.  Alfred  Brun- 
son,  who  saw  both  these  missionaries  on  his  first  trip  up  the  river  above 
Prairie  du  Chien  (1837)  thinks  that  the  Red  Wing  establishment  was  founded  in 

1834.  Both  movements  were  unsuccessful,  as  was  also  an  attempt  by  Rev.  J.  D. 
Stevens  to  found  a  mission  at  Wah-pa-sha's  village,  now  Winona.    The  chief 
named  was  hostile  to  all  these  missionary  efforts,  and  as  they  were  neither 
French  nor  Romanist  the  traders  gave  them  no  favor.    In  1837  the  Sioux  trans 
ferred  to  the  United  States  government  the  land  on  which  stood  the  Trern- 
peauleau  mission,  and  in  the  following  year  Mr.  Gavin  abandoned  the  field. 
He  then  joined   his  colleague  who  had  married   Miss  Persis  Skinner  of  the 
Mackinaw  mission.    He  himself  in  1839  married  Miss  Lucy  C.  Stevens,  niece  of 
J.  D.  Stevens,  and  this  missionary  quaternion   found   other  homes  among  the 
Sioux  and,  in  connection  with  missionaries  of  the  American  Board,  continued 
labor  with  them. 

t  NOTE.— It  was  signed  by  Jacob  Cheekthaukon,  John  Metoxen,  Austin  E. 
Quinney,  Thomas  T.  Hendrick,  Andrew  Miller,  Timothy  T.  Jourdan,  Cornelius 
S.  Charles,  John  W.  Quinney,  Samuel  A.  Miller  and  Josiah  W.  Miller. 


IN   UNNAMED   WISCONSIN.  31 

deavored  to  reconcile  our  minds  to  it.  Still  we   can 

not  avoid  feeling  much  solicitude  on  the  subject. 

uThe  Sacs  and  Fox  and  Delaware  tribes  of  Indians  are  our 
friends  and  relatives,  and  a  delegation  from  our  people  intend  vis 
iting  them  next  season.  Can  we  not  tell  them  the  great  benefits 
we  have  received  from  being  taught  the  gospel?  Can  we  not  tell 
them  that  your  society  is  ready  to  send  them  teachers  if  they  are 
willing  to  receive  them?  Can  you  not  appoint  a  missionary  to  ac 
company  us?  Fathers,  if  you  think  there  is  any  way  we  can  do 
good  in  our  visit  to  our  poor  brethren  beyond  the  Mississippi,  we 
wish  you  would  give  us  some  instructions," 

The  narrative  is  continued  in  a  letter  by  Chauncey  Hall,  dated 
1834,  July  2nd,  at  Statesburg,  but  postmarked  "Grand  Cakalin." 
It  was  addressed  to  Mr.  Edmund  F.  Ely  of  the  Ojibway  mission  at 
Sandy  Lake,  in  what  is  now  Minnesota.  The  postage,  eighteen 
and  three-fourths  cents,  reminds  us  that  certainly  in  some  things 
the  former  days  were  not  better  than  these. 

"When  Rev.  Mr.  Green  was  at  Mackinaw  last  summer,  an  ar 
rangement  was  made  for  my  future  labors  which  made  it  probable 
that  I  should  in  the  course  of  the  coming  fall  or  early  in  the  spring 
leave  Mackinaw  for  the  place  from  which  I  am  now  writing.  This 
station  was  occupied  by  the  Eev.  Mr.  Marsh  and  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Stevens.  Mr.  Stevens  and  wife  left  last  fall,  but  it  was  not  consis 
tent  for  me  to  leave  till  spring.  We  [himself  and 
wife]  left  Mackinaw  on  the  21st  of  May  at  2  o'clock  P.  M.,  Mon 
day,  and  arrived  at  Green  Bay  on  Wednesday  evening.  Our  pas 
sage  was  in  the  steamboat  Oliver  Newbury  f  and,  though  we  were 
detained  by  fogs,  was  very  pleasant. 

"We  left  Green  Bay  on  Friday  at  12  o'clock,  and  proceeded  up 
the  Fox  river.  We  reached  the  mission-house  at  3  P. 

M.,  had  time  to  get  our  baggage,  etc.,  from  the  landing  (one  and 
one-half  miles  distant  in  consequence  of  the  rapids)  and  get  very 
comfortably  settled  before  evening.  Rev.  Mr.  Marsh  gave  us  a  very 
cordial  reception.  He  has  been  alone  since  last  fall,  much  of  the 
time  without  any  one  to  attend  to  his  domestic  concerns,  and  he 
was  truly  glad  to  receive  fellow-laborers.  We  found  in  him  what 

t  NOTE.— Oliver  Newbury  of  Detroit,  Michigan,  was  a  steamboat  owner. 
But  Mr.  J.  M.  Boyd  thinks  that  there  was  no  boat  bearing  his  name. 


32  IN   UNNAMED    WISCONSIN. 

we  expected,  a  kind  and  warm-hearted  Christian,  much  devoted  to 
his  work,  and  enjoying  to  a  great  degree  the  love  and  confidence 
of  the  people  for  whom  he  labors.  *  *  The  condition  of 
the  Indians  among  whom  we  dwell  presents  much  that  is  truly  en 
couraging  to  the  missionary,  and  methinks  a  view  of  them  as  they 
collect  together  for  the  worship  of  God,  or  talk  of  His  love  in 
their  dwellings,  would  make  the  heart  of  one  destined  to  labor 
among  the  uncivilized  Indians,  where  no  gospel  has  extended  its 
benign  influence,  to  rejoice  in  view  of  what  the  Lord  has  done,  and 
encourage  him  to  pursue  his  labors  assured  that  He  who  has  done 
so  much  for  these  Indians  is  able  also  to  extend  the  work  and  will 
do  it  through  the  instrumentality  of  His  children.  The  church 
among  the  Stockbridge  Indians  consists  of  sixty  or  seventy  mem 
bers.  Most  of  them  adorn  their  profession.  Several  who  had  wan 
dered  from  the  path  of  duty  have  recently  returned  with  apparent 
penitence,  and,  as  far  as  I  know,  their  lives  give  evidence  that  it  is 
sincere.  The  church  is  a  temperance  church,  agreeing  to  abstain 
from  the  use  of  all  strong  drink,  not  excepting  wine,  strong  beer 
and  cider.  Most  of  the  tribe  are  members  of  a  temperance  society 
which  exerts  a  salutary  influence.  At  their  last  annual  meeting,  a 
few  weeks  since,  they  resolved  to  give  up  the  use  of  wine,  strong 
beer  and  cider.  (The  resolution  had  before  existed  but  in  the 
church.) 

"Perhaps  from  what  I  write,  you  will  conclude  that  we  are 
among  a  people  so  civilized  that  we  have  nothing  to  remind  us  that 
we  are  on  missionary  ground.  Truly  we  are  among  those  for 
whom  'the  Lord  has  done  great  things.'  Yet  bad  I  time  and  room 
I  could  tell  you  with  all  that  seems  to  be  cheering  much  that  would 
lead  you  to  feel  that,  if  we  are  not  in  the  midst  of  heathenism, 
we  have  enough  to  remind  us  of  heathen  wretchedness,  enough 
to  call  forth  the  compassion  of  feeling  hearts,  enough  to  call 
forth  our  unwearied  labors  and  to  lead  us  to  ask  with  sincerity 
for  an  interest  in  your  prayers. 

"I  mentioned  the  absence  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Marsh.  He  left 
with  five  of  the  principal  Indians  on  the  12th  of  June.  In  the 
'Missionary  Herald'  for  April,  1834,  is  a  letter  from  the  chief  man 
of  the  Stockbridge  Indians  which  will  explain  to  you  the  object 
of  this  journey.  Much  interest  has  been  and  is  still  manifested 


IN   UNNAMED    WISCONSIN.  33 

by  the  Indians  in  the  mission  to  their  benighted  neighbors.  On  the 
Sabbath  previous  to  their  departure,  Mr.  John  Metoxen,  the  head 
chief  of  the  tribe,  addressed  his  people  at  the  evening  meeting. 
He  was  one  of  the  delegation,  and  he  reminded  his  friends  in  a 
feeling  and  dignified  manner,  that  they  were  soon  to  be  separated : 
that  perhaps  this  was  their  last  meeting  upon  earth.  Then  he 
spoke  of  the  contemplated  journey  to  their  neighbors  west  of  the 
Mississippi,  and  he  appeared  deeply  to  feel  the  importance  of  the 
errand  on  which  they  were  going. 

"He  said  it  was  the  first  time  their  people  had  undertaken  to 
tell  the  'glad  tidings'  to  their  brethren  in  darkness.  He  expressed 
his  sense  of  the  blessings  which  had  been  conferred  on  them 
through  the  gospel;  of  the  preciousness  of  their  privileges,  and  the 
obligation  which  rested  upon  them  to  improve  them,  as  well  as  to 
discharge  their  duty  to  their  wretched  brethren.  With  much  feeling 
he  spoke  of  the  condition  of  the  heathen,  and  particularly  of  the  In 
dians,  while  destitute  of  the  gospel.  His  heart  seemed  to  feel  for 
their  wretchedness  in  this  life,  but  the  burden  of  his  sorrows  seemed 
to  be  the  hopelessness  of  their  condition  in  the  future  world  while 
destitute  of  a  saving  knowledge  of  Jesus.  He  assured  them  of  his  at 
tachment  to  home  and  his  desire  to  return,  but  expressed  the 
most  cheerful  resignation  of  the  will  of  his  Heavenly  Father  re 
specting  this.  His  counsel  to  his  people  who  were  to  remain  was 
faithful  and  affectionate,  earnestly  desiring  their  prayers  for  a 
blessing  upon  this  embassy. 

"The  absence  of  Mr.  Marsh  and  the  chief  men  takes  from  the 
Indians  those  who  have  been  their  counselors,  and  we  are  not  with 
out  our  fears  respecting  the  effect,  particularly  as  this  will  be  a  sea 
son  of  much  temptation,  as  the  Indians  are  to  receive  their  money 
for  their  improvements  and  are  much  unsettled  in  consequence  of  re 
moving.  Our  hope  is  that  He  who  has  promised  that  'they  who  water 
shall  be  watered'  will  watch  over  us.  We  have  had  cheering  indi 
cations  that  the  Lord  was  with  us  for  two  or  more  weeks  past. 
Christians  have  been  evidently  revived,  and  two  or  three  individuals 
have  publicly  expressed  anxiety  for  the  salvation  of  their  souls,  and 
asked  for  the  counsels  and  the  prayers  of  Christians.  Our  meet 
ings  are  well  attended  and  our  Sunday  school  is  interesting.  About 
half  the  people  have  removed  to  the  new  station  about  twenty  miles 


34  ANOTHER  &TOCKBRIDGE 

from  us  and  forty  from  Green  Bay,  the  nearest  white  settlement. 
We  expect  to  remove  there  in  a  few  months  as  well  as  the  remain 
der  of  the  people;  have  yet  to  remove  the  timber  and  erect  a  dwel 
ling." 

To  the  "new  station"  was  given  the  old  name  Stockbridge. 
Thither  in  this  same  month,  July,  1834,  came  Rev.  Abel  Lester 
Barber,  driven  from  Mackinaw  by  the  failure  of  his  health.  Thus, 
in  trying  a  climate  more  remote  from  the  lakes,  he  was  added  to 
the  mission  force  at  Stockbridge.  We  shall  hear  of  him  later  at 
Fort  Winnebago  and  Milwaukee.  \  At  the  latter  place  he  had  the 
first  commission  which  the  American  Home  Missionary  society  is 
sued  for  Wisconsin. 

t  NOTE.— In  the  winter  of  1^34-35,  Mr.  Barber  gathered  a  church  at  Fort 
Winnebago,  and  in  the  following  July  or  August  removed  to  Milwaukee. 
Apparently  he  was  the  second  clergyman  to  hold  service  in  that  place  and  the 
first  to  make  his  home  there. 


CH  APTE  VI. 


ANOTHER    STOCKBRIDGE    AND    A    FOURTH 
REMOVAL. 

Mr.  Hall's  fear  that  the  summer  of  1834  would  be  "a  season  of 
temptation"  to  the  Indians  was  abundantly  verified  as  is  evident 
from  the  report  of  the  mission  piesented  in  September  at  the  an 
nual  meeting  of  the  Board: 

"During  the  past  year  the  Indians  of  this  band  have  continued 
in  nearly  the  same  unsettled  state  in  which  they  were  last  year; 
and  being  sometimes  on  their  old  lands  and  sometimes  on  their 
new,  they  have  enjoyed  but  irregularly  the  advantages  of  Chris 
tian  instruction  or  of  th^  school.  The  religious  meetings  and  the 


AND  A  FOURTH  REMOVAL,  35 

school  have  been  small  and  fluctuating.  It  is  hoped,  however,  that 
the  Indians  will  all  become  settled  in  their  new  homes  during  the 
present  autumn.  Numbers  of  them  have  cleared  and  fenced  large 
fields  for  themselves,  have  erected  comfortable  houses,  and  are  la 
boring  industriously  on  their  new  lands.  A  good  building  for  the 
school  and  for  religious  meetings  has  also  been  erected,  princi 
pally  by  themselves.  The  mission  premises  on  their  former  reser 
vation  were  appraised  at  two  thousand  dollars;  and  the  amount  has 
been  paid  over  to  the  Board  by  the  United  States.  A  new  mission 
house  has  been  built  at  the  new  town,  and  the  mission  family  re 
moved  to  it  last  fall.  The  school  and  the  religious  meetings  have 
been  held  there  since  that  time. 

"Intoxicating  drinks  have  been  introduced  among  these  In 
dians  in  great  quantities,  and  oftentimes  urged  upon  them  gra- 
tuitiously,  for  the  sole  purpose,  apparently,  of  enticing  them  to  sin. 
Many  of  the  irreligious  Indians  have  given  themselves  up  to  drink 
ing;  and  its  consequences,  quarreling  and  fighting,  have  prevailed 
to  a  lamentable  extent.  Some  of  the  church  members  have  also 
fallen  into  sin,  under  similar  temptation,  while  many  others  hold 
on  their  wray,  and  give  increasing  evidence  that  they  are  sealed  with 
the  Holy  Spirit.  Three  or  four  members  of  the  church  are  under 
censure;  one  young  man  has  been  received  to  church  fellowship, 
and  one  had  died  in  the  faith." 

In  a  letter  dated  at  Stockbridge,  1835,  March  25th,  Mr.  Marsh 
makes  a  report  of  the  trans-Mississippi  trip  which  he  made  with 
Metoxen  and  others.  We  subjoin  the  more  important  parts: 

"Set  out  on  the  12th  of  June  (1834).  Upon  the  14th  encamped 
for  the  Sabbath,  having  in  full  view  to  our  right  the  Big  Buttes 
des  Morte,  which  had  taken  its  name  from  the  slaughter  of  an  en 
tire  Sac  village  by  the  French  and  Menominees  about  one  hundred 
years  ago.  As  we  pursued  our  journey  we  occasionally  saw  lodges 
of  Winnebagoes  along  upon  the  banks  but  no  corn  fields  or  vegeta 
bles  of  any  kind  which  they  had  growing.  Whenever  they  saw  us 
coming  they  would  *  *  beg  as  if  half  starved.  Col.  Cutler 
informed  me  that  *  *  they  were  the  most  indolent,  thiev 
ing  tribe  that  he  knew  of.  He  had  known  as  many  as  three  or 
four  hundred  drunk  at  one  time.  *  *  The  Cumberland 
Presbyterians  have  a  mission  among  them  near  Prairie  du  Chien. 


36  ANOTHER  STOCKBRIDGE 

The  Catholics  are  making  some  effort  to  proselyte  them  and  num 
bers  are  Catholics  at  the  present  time. 

"The  second  Sabbath,  June  22nd,  we  passed  at  a  place  called 
the  Pine  Bend  on  the  Wisconsin,  about  sixty  miles  from  Portage., 
where  was  a  small  settlement.  A  few  Indians  were  present  and  at 
tended  religious  worship  with  us.  We  arrived  at  Prairie  du  Chein 
on  the  25th  and  finding  that  Dr.  Williamson  had  left  we  made  no 
tarry.  Saturday  evening,  the  28th,  we  arrived  at  Rock  Island. 
Dr.  Williamson  had  left  this  place  also  the  day  previously. 

''Mr.  Metoxen  had  an  interview  with  Black  Hawk  who  was  re 
turning  from  Rock  Island  to  his  village,  which  Mr.  Metoxen  had 
just  been  to  visit, 

"Black  Hawk  went  on  to  tell  how  kindly  he  was  treated  by  the 
white  people  w^herever  he  went  when  on  his  tour.  'In  no  place,' 
nays  he,  'did  I  see  white  men  and  white  equaws  drinking  together 
the  same  as  our  people  do.  When  I  passed  through  your  place  it 
was  just  so,  and  I  want  to  have  my  people  just  like  those  good 
white  people,  for  I  see  where  they  do  not  drink  they  do  better  and 
live  better.  Now  what  do  3rou  think  is  best  about  receiving  mission 
aries?'  '  'By  all  means  receive  them,'  I  replied,'  says  Mr.  Metox 
en,  'for  they  will  do  you  good.'  Black  Hawk:  'But  the  trader, 
Mr.  Davenport,  told  me  not  to  have  anything  to  do  with  them  for 
they  would  only  make  you  worse.'  f 

******** 

"Our  attempt  to  establish  a  mission  amongst  the  Sacs  and 
Foxes  entirely  failed  of  success. 

"I  went  to  visit  old  Ke-o-kuck's  village  soon  after  my  arrival. 
He  told  my  interpreter  that  he  knew  what  I  had  come  for  but  he 
wanted  to  learn  nothing  about  it.  J  The  head  chief,  called  the 
'Stabber/  said  the  same  thing  to  my  interpreter  when  I  went  to 
his  lodge.  As  they  had  no  previous  notice  of  my  visit,  and  inas 
much  as  their  mode  of  treating  the  subject  was  so  contrary  to  the 

t  NOTE.— Mr.  Metoxen  tells  of  his  difficulties  not  only  because  the  traders 
were  opposed  but  because  the  United  States  interpreter,  besides  being  con 
nected  with  the  American  Fur  Company,  was  a  Romanist. 

|  NOTE.— Ke-o-kuk  continued  to  be  so  much  of  a  heathen  that,  during  or 
about  1840,  he  had  a  squaw  put  to  death  for  the  alleged  reason  that  she  be 
witched  one  of  his  children. 


AND   A   FO&flTH  REMOVAL.  37 

rules  of  Indian  etiquette.  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  they  had.par- 
ticular  instructions  previously. 

"After  a  few  days  the  Stockbridges  met  with  the  'Stabber,' 
who  is  considered  by  the  Sacs  as  the  head  chief,  but  not  by  the 
white  people.  They  proposed  to  the  'Stabber'  to  make  the  intended 
visit  to  his  people.  At  first  he  objected,  but  consented  after  they 
had  told  him  that  they  had  provisions  of  their  own.  They  went 
and  stayed  about  five  days,  but  having  no  interpreter  could  con 
verse  but  little  with  the  Sacs  and  so  the  latter  understood  little  of 
the  object  of  the  visit.  Still  I  had  reason  to  believe  from  what  I 
afterwards  ascertained,  that  a  favorable  impression  was  made  on  the 
minds  of  the  Sacs  by  the  visit.  After  this  the  Stockbridges  set  their 
faces  towards  home.  I  had  gone  down  the  river  to  visit  one  of  the 
most  remote  bands  upon  the  river  Des  Moines. 

"The  deportment  of  the  Stockbridge  delegation  during  the 
whole  tour  was  such  as  to  do  honor  to  themselves  and  to  the  cause 
of  missions.  Many  white  people  where  they  went  had  never  seen 
a  civilized  or  Christian  Indian  before.  Often  the  most  singular  in 
quiries  would  be  made,  as  'Do  they  belong  to  the  church?'  'Can 
they  speak  English?'  etc.  On  their  return  they  were  of  course 
alone  and  they  came  by  land  part  of  the  way.  In  the  mining 
country,  not  far  from  Galena  the  Sabbath  overtook  them  and  there 
they  stopped  until  it  was  passed.  I  returned  the  same  way  and 
heard  it  remarked  by  some  of  the  people  'that  they  sang  hymns 
all  Sabbath  day.'  This  seemed  not  only  new  but  strange  to  those 
who  make  no  distinction  bet\ven  one  day  and  another  when  travel 
ing. 

"The  appearance  of  John  Metoxen,  his  conversation,  etc.,  were 
universally  spoken  of  with  admiration,  particularly  by  Christians. 

"My  connection  with  Dr.  Williamson  was  short.  Together  we 
visited  Appenoose's  village  one  hundred  twenty-five  miles  from  the 
mouth  of  the  Des  Moines.  After  Dr.  Williamson  left  to  return  to 
his  friends  in  Ohio  I  was  attacked  with  dysentery.  I  returned 
about  one  hundred  miles  down  the  Des  Moines  river  to  the  house 
of  a  trader,  Mr.  William  Phelps,  where  I  was  sick  one  week. 

"Mr.  Phelps,  though  a  professed  infidel  in  sentiment,  still  was 
friendly  to  my  object.  He  declared  that  if  something  were  not 
done  soon  for  the  Sacs,  etc.,  they  would  all  be  swept  off.  He  treat- 


38  AT  STOCKBRIDGE—AND  AWAY! 

ed  me  with  great  hospitality.  He  and  a  brother  of  his  are  trading 
in  opposition  to  the  American  Fur  Company  and  it  rather  operates 
to  our  advantage  than  otherwise." 

"A  tour  by  land  and  water  of  over  1,300  miles;"  "absence  of 
three  months  and  some  days,"  are  among  Mr.  Marsh's  comments 
on  his  journey. 


CHAPTER      VII. 


AT    STOCKBRIDGE,— AND    AWAY! 

Scarcely  were  the  Stockbridges  settled  in  their  new  homes  when 
another  removal  was  proposed.  "Even  now,"  says  the  annual  re 
port  to  the  Board  for  1836,  "when  the  Indians  have  hardly  put  up 
their  houses  and  cleared  and  enclosed  their  fields,  the  proposal  has 
been  made  to  take  them  from  their  homes  again,  and  transport 
them  to  a  country  west  of  the  Mississippi  river,  Their  minds  are 
beginning  to  be  agitated  on  the  subject.  The  perplexity  and  dis 
couragement  to  which  the  missionaries  are  subjected  from  this 
source  are  very  great;  but  not  to  be  compared  with  the  dishearten 
ing  and  deteriorating  influence  exerted  on  the  Indians  by  being  so 
often  obliged  to  abandon  the  houses  and  fields  which  they  were- 
just  beginning  to  enjoy,  and  to  prepare  for  themselves  other  homes 
of  which  they  may  be  despoiled  as  soon."  Of  their  condition  other 
wise  at  that  time  the  narrative  adds,  "Temperance,  industry  and 
attention  to  religious  instruction,  have  been  more  general  than  for 
the  preceding  two  or  three  years.  Temptatations  have  beset  the 
people  from  the  white  settlers  who  are  crowding  in  around  them. 
Some  painful  cases  of  defection  have  occurred.  Others  have  resist 
ed  temptation  so  as  to  excite  the  admiration  of  unprincipled  men. 
Mr.  Marsh  has  assisted  in  organizing  a  church  at  Green  Bay.  He 


AT  STOCKBRIDGE— AND  AWAY!  39 

preaches  there  occasionally."  A  second  school  had  been  started 
in  the  Indian  settlement. 

The  purpose  to  remove  the  Indians  west  of  the  Mississippi 
was  abandoned,  and  for  some  years  the  tribe  had  peace.  Of  this 
time  Rev.  L.  P.  Norcross  f  writes:  "Their  palmy  days  were  dur 
ing  the  reign  of  the  Quinney  or  tribal  party."  Probably  he  should 
have  said  that  their  palmy  days  were  before  the  division  into  tribal 
and  citizens'  parties  began.  "Quinney,"  he  adds,  "was  a  man  of 
character,  ability  and  a  Christian."  Doubtless  John  W.  Quinney 
is  meant.  Another  writer  says:  "He  was  to  his  people  what  Clay 
and  Webster  were  to  the  whites.  In  1833  he  framed  a  constitution 
as  a  basis  of  the  tribal  government."  J  During  these  years  the 
principal  events  seem  to  have  been  the  coming  in  the  spring  of 
1837  of  some  Munsees  from  Canada,  and  the  removal  in  1838  of  a 
part  of  the  Stock  bridge  tribe  beyond  the  Missouri.  A  place  seems 
to  have  been  provided  through  the  agency  of  the  Ogden  Land  Com 
pany  §  of  New  York.  After  a  few  years  most  of  those  left  alive 
were  glad  to  return  though  some  of  the  younger  people  remained. 
In  the  autumn  of  1838,  when  the  American  Board  felt  most  keenly 
the  financial  stringency  of  the  time,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hall  left  the  mis 
sion.  We  shall  hear  of  Mr.  Hall  again  as  representative  of  the 
Green  Bay  church  when  the  Presbyterian  and  Congregational 
Convention  of  Wisconsin  was  organized.  The  Stockbridge  Indian 
church  was  the  first  one  not  of  the  original  number  to  join  this 
body.  It  was  received  at  a  session  held  1841,  January  2nd,  for  the 
purpose  of  installing  Rev.  Jeremiah  Porter  as  pastor  at  Green  Bay. 
John  Metoxen  was  delegate.  During  this  winter,  as  in  1837,  there 
wras  a  revival  in  the  Stockbridge  church.  The  school  during  1841 
was  under  the  direction  of  the  Indians. 

But  evil  was  brewing.  The  "Missionary  Herald"  for  January, 
1840,  speaks  of  political  divisions.  One  party  desired  citizenship, 

t  NOTE.— Pastor  of  the  existing  church  at  Steckbridge,  Wisconsin,  from 
May,  1869,  to  January,  1870. 

|  NOTE.— Probably  the  constitution  found  in  the  appendix  is  substantial 
ly  the  same  as  the  one  drawn  up  by  Mr.  Quinney. 

§  NOTE.— This  company  was  eager  to  get  possession  of  the  New  York 
lands  that  belonged  to  the  remnants  of  the  Iroquois  or  Six  Nations.  So  they 
sought  to  get  reservations  in  what  is  now  Kansas  for  them  and  for  such  of 
their  brethren  as  had  removed  to  Wisconsin. 


40  AT  STOCKBRIDGE— AND  AWAY! 

the  other  preferred  to  remain  in  the  tribal  condition.  The  ill-feel 
ing  thus  engendered  proved  to  be  a  veritable  Pandora's  box  of  evils. 
Because  of  it  the  tribe  is  worse  off,  probably  in  every  respect,  than 
it  was  fifty  years  ago.  However,  citizenship  was  bestowed  by  an 
act  of  Congress  approved  1843,  March  3rd.  This  measure  had  Mr. 
Marsh's  support,  but  many  of  the  tribe,  and  apparently  some  of  the 
better  portion  of  it,  opposed  the  change.  There  is  report  of  strife  in 
1844.  Death  and  emigration  had  diminished  the  tribe  which  num 
bered  not  many  more  than  two  hundred.  The  church  had  fifty 
members,  only  five  more  than  it  had  in  1830,  though  meanwhile  it 
had  received  sixty-eight.  The  report  for  1845  states  that  "in  tem 
perance,  industry,  healthfulness  and  comfortable  living,  the  tribe 
appear  to  be  making  some  progress."  The  Sabbath  was  generally 
observed. 

In  this  year,  1845,  probably  April,  Methodist  services  were  es 
tablished  among  these  people  by  the  Kev.  W.  Gr.  Miller,  from 
whose  autobiography  we  have  an  account  of  the  movement. 
"There  had  been,"  he  says,  "a  Congregational  mission  among  the 
Stockbridge  nation  for  many  years,  but  its  condition  was  not  very 
promising."  He  speaks  of  "Dr."  Marsh  as  "a  gentleman  of  educa 
tion  and  ability,"  but  adds,  "he  divided  his  time,  however,  between 
the  ministerial  and  medical  professions,  and  the  spiritual  interests 
necessarily  languished."  It  may  be  that  good  Mr.  Miller  wrote 
thus  seeking  to  justify  action  which  was  certainly  divisive,  and 
probably  unwise.  Meetings  were  held  in  "Father  Chick's"  barn. 
Mr.  Miller  speaks  of  him  as  "the  head  chief  "  which  he  was  not. 
But  he  was  a  leader  of  the  citizens  party. 

The  gift  of  citizenship  was  withdrawn  in  1846  from  those  who 
did  not  desire  it.  In  January,  1847,  one  of  their  number,  of  mixed 
blood,  Jeremiah  Slingerland,  educated  at  Bangor  theological  sem 
inary,  is  especially  mentioned  in  the  "Herald."  He  had  been  "la 
boring  among  them  acceptably  and  usefully  as  preacher  and  teach 
er."  He  became  the  successor  of  Rev.  Cutting  Marsh  who  ended 
his  long  pastorate  at  Stockbridge  in  the  spring  or  summer  of  1848. 
In  the  same  year  the  Stockbridge  tribe,  avowedly  for  the  purpose 
of  ridding  themselves  of  further  trouble,  sold  their  lands  at  Win- 
nebago  lake. 

But  this   act  itself  gave  occasion  for  fresh  dispute.     It  would 


AT  STOCRBRIDGE—AND  AWAY!  41 

seem  that  an  attempt  was  made  to  keep  from  all  share  in  tribal  gov 
ernment  and  coiitrol  of  tribal  property  those, — seventy-one  in  num 
ber, — who  had  accepted  citizenship.  These,  it  was  alleged,  had  re 
ceived,  on  becoming  citizens,  allotments  of  land  that  were  the 
equivalent  of  their  share  of  the  property, — the  land  of  the  reserva 
tion  that  had  been  held  by  the  tribe  in  common.  It  is  not  my  office 
to  pronounce  judgment. 

The  faithful  memory  of  one  still  among  the  living  f  has  preserved 
for  us  a  picture  of  the  condition  of  the  Muh-he-ka-ne-ok  at  this  time 
of  the  impending  and  hurtful  change.  Nearly  all  the  homes  of  the 
people  were  of  logs,  but  there  were  a  few  frame  houses.  For  years 
Mrs.  Marsh  had  been  a  teacher  of  good  house-keeping  to  the  women 
and  many  followed,  at  least  in  some  measure,  her  example.  But 
there  was  a  considerable  number  who  did  not  properly  guard 
against  dirt  and  vermin.  Naturally  there  were  sneers  for  those 
who  tried  to  fashion  their  apparel  after  the  manners  of  the  whites. 
The  women  of  the  progressive  party  wore  at  church  and  other 
public  places  beaver  hats  shaped  somewhat  like  the  silk  hats  so 
commonly  worn  by  gentlemen.  The  other  women  wore  neither  hat 
nor  bonnet.  Men  and  women  alike  to  the  number  of  perhaps  half 
or  more  of  the  tribe,  wore  "blankets."  These  were  commonly  of 
blue  broadcloth,  and  were  worn  in  public.  The  men  all  wore  pan- 
.taloons  and  shirts.  But  the  order  in  which  were  worn  the  parts  of 
these  garments  that  are  next  to  each  other  does  not  accord  with  our 
ideas  of  propriety.  The  want  of  suspenders  was  manifest  by  the 
constant  "hitching"  needed  to  keep  the  pantaloons  in  place.  The 
women  did  most  of  the  work,  even  of  that  in  the  field.  Yet  there 
were  men  who  had  accepted  enough  of  Christian  teaching  to  know 
that  this  kind  of  work  was  especially  their  duty  and  to  act  accord 
ingly.  Some  of  the  families  lived  at  a  considerable  distance  from 
the  school  but  all  the  children  received  therein  more  or  less  train 
ing.  Nearly  all  the  tribe  attended  church.  Their  Sabbath,  as  in 
former  years,  began  at  sunset  on  Saturday  evening.  Mrs.  Benson 
heard  or  saw  nothing  of  the  "elegantly  festooned  whip"  that  Mr. 
Norcross  speaks  of  but  she  remembers  a  peeJed  stick  used  for  the 
same  purpose.  There  were  still  so  many  of  the  tribe  who  under- 

t  NOTE.— Sabra  Howes  Adams,  now  the  wife  of  Rev.  H.  H.  Benson,  of  Wau- 
watosa,  Wisconsin. 


42  AT  STOCKBRIDGE— AND  AWAY! 

stood  Indian  that  Mr.  Slingerland  occasionally  preached  in  it. 
This  Mr.  Marsh  did  not  think  necessary.  Some  of  the  young  men 
had  been  educated  in.  Eastern  colleges.  These,  with  the  possible 
exception  of  Mr.  Slingerland,  did  no  credit  to  their  training.  They 
married  half-civilized  women  and  lapsed  into  something  worse  than 
their  former  mode  of  life.  Mrs.  Benson's  work  among  the  people, 
like  that  of  Mr.  Marsh,  came  to  an  end  in  1848.  Then  the  Ameri 
can  Board  gave  up  its  mission.  This  seems  now  and  is  judged 
by  Mrs.  Benson  to  have  been  a  serious  mistake. 

Now  that  both  these  men  are  in  their  graves,  it  may  be  said 
that  Mr.  Marsh  had  no  confidence  in  his  successor,-  or  supplanter. 
He  left  Stockbridge  with  a  feeling  of  despair  regarding  the  future 
of  the  church  to  which  he  had  so  long  ministered.  His  distrust  of 
Mr.  Slingerland  was  shared  by  some  of  the  clearest  headed  of  the  In 
dians  themselves.  Yet  it  does  not  become  us  to  reproach  the  mem 
ory  of  the  dead  who  has  left  none  of  his  name  to  defend  him.  f 

During  the  gloomy  years  that  followed  the  sale  of  the  Lake 
Winnebago  reservation,  the  Stockbridges  wer°  not  entirely  neglected. 
At  the  meeting  of  -our  state  Presbyterian  and  Congregational  Con 
vention  in  1854,  their  delegate,  S.  Miller,  presented  their  case,  and 
a  committee  was  appointed  "to  memorialize  the  proper  department 
of  the  Government,  in  our  name,  in  behalf  of  the  Stockbridge  tribe, 
setting  forth  their  grievances,  and  petitioning  for  the  restoration  to 
them  of  their  lands."  The  Convention  also  resolved  that  "we  feel 
it  incumbent  upon  us  to  endeavor  to  procure  for  them  the  stated 
ministration  of  the  gospel."  Mr.  Slingerland's  service  seems  to 
have  ended  before  1853,  for  in  that  year  a  name,  O.  P.  Clinton,  late 
ly  added  to  the  number  of  the  dead,  (1890,  June  17th),  appears  as 
pastor.  In  1854  and  in  1859  we  find  him  in  the  same  office,  which 
was  held  in  two  of  the  intervening  years,  1856  and  1857,  by  J.  P. 
Jones.  During  these  pastorates  whites  worshiped  with  the  In 
dians  in  the  old  mission  house,  erected  in  1834.  J  "Indian  church 


t  NOTE. — While  this  work  has  been  in  preparation  his  widow,  a  white 
woman,  always  faithful  to  him  and  to  his  memory,  and  honored  by  all  who 
knew  her,  has  passed  away. 

\  NOTE. — This  old  "meeting-house,"  still  standing  though  degraded,  is 
worthy  of  an  historic  monograph.  It  suggests  the  fact  that  Stockbridge,  more, 
probably,  than  any  other  place  in  Wisconsin,  reproduced  some  of  the  features 
of  a  New  England  town  of  the  eighteenth  centurj'.  Their  "meeting-house"  was 


AT  STOCKBRIDGE—AND  AWAY!  43 

nearly  extinct/'  say  our  minutes  of  1859,  "church  of  whites  about 
to  be  organized."  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  they  did  not  unite  with 
their  Indian  brethren  in  Christian  covenant,  and  thus  formally  as 
well  as  really  continue  the  life  of  the  old  church  organized,  as  we 
have  seen,  at  Stockbridge,  Massachusetts,  in  1785.  Its  records 
were  lost  in  the  removal  to  Shawano  which  took  place  between  1856 
and  1859.  By  far  the  greater  part  of  the  tribe  made  this  change. 
A  few,  however,  remained.  In  this  number  were  "quiet,  unostenta 
tious,  sincere  Christians,"  as  they  were  described  years  afterwards. 
Uniting  with  their  white  brethren  these  kept  the  life  of  the  old 
church  unbroken. 

Whether  or  not  the  "memorial"  proposed  in  the  Convention  of 
1854  was  ever  presented,  I  do  not  know.  It  was  too  late  for  the 
tribe  to  recover  its  lands  on  Lake  Winnebago.  Indeed,  if  any  In 
dian  tribe  has  ever  recovered  from  the  United  States  government 
lands  once  alienated  I  have  never  heard  of  the  fact.  1856,  February 
5th,  a  treaty  was  made  assigning  to  the  tribe  the  present  Stock- 
ridge  reservation  in  Shawano  county,  and  this  treaty  all  were  allowed 
to  sign,  whether  citizens  or  members  of  the  tribe.  Removal  to 
the  new  home  began  in  that  year.  Some  came  in  October.  I  have 
been  told  that  most  of  the  tribe  made  the  change  in  1857.  The 

used,  not  only  for  religious  service  but  for  other  public  gatherings*.  This  oM 
building,  after  serving  sis  a  Congregational  church  until  1*569,  December 
19th,  became  successively  a  school,  a  printing  office  and  a  blacksmith  shop. 
It  has  had  in  it,  probably,  more  silver  money  than  has  been  at  one  time  in  any 
other  house  of  worship  in  Wisconsin, — making  no  exception  for  Sundays  when 
special  collections  haA'e  been  taken  for  missions  either  home  or  foreign!  At 
one  government .payment  the  Indians  received  therein  eighty  thousand  or  more 
silver  half  dollars.  The  use  of  the  same  building  for  purposes  both  of  church 
and  state,— merely  different  aspects  of  the  same  Christian  commonwealth,— 
was  judged  right  by  the  Puritan,  and  did  not  imply  any  unbecoming  use  of  the 
house  wherein  he  worshiped  God.  He  had  little  use  for  the  term  "secular' . 
in  its  present  meaning.  It  is  probable  that  the  tribal  meetings  of  the  Stock- 
bridges,  like  the  town  meetings  of  the  olden  time  and  some  of  the  present,  in 
New  England,  were  opened  with  prayer. 

Two  tithing  men  or  "beadles,"  to  use  Mr.  Colton's  term,  were  chost-n  at 
the  annual  church  meeting  to  keep  good  order  during  service.  We  may  sup 
pose  that  this  included  the  prevention  of  "gazing  about,  sleeping,  smiling  and 
all  other  indecent  behavior," — the  words  on  this  subject  of  the  Presbyterian 
Directory  for  Public  Worship.  The  switch  of  the  time  »f  Mr.  Colton's  visit 
was,  according  to  Rev.  L.  P.  Norcross,  succeeded  later  by  a  whip.  "This  mean* 
of  grace  was  elegantly  mounted,"  he  says,  and  the  lash  was  "festooned  in  cur 
ious  style." 


44  AT  STOCKBRIDGE—AND  AWAY! 

journey  was  across  Lake  Wiunebago  and  up  the  Fox  and  Wolf  rivers. 
A  tributary  of  the  latter,  called  the  Red  river,  flows  through  the 
reservation  then  occupied  and  still  held.  I  have  been  told  that 
some  Indians  from  New  York, — Senecas,  Onondagoes  and  Cayugas. 
about  eighty  in  all, — joined  the  Muh-he-ka-ne-ok  at  the  time  of  this 
last  removal. 

What  wonder  that  the  Indians  left  Stockbridge  unwillingly? 
We  are  glad  that  the  leaders  in  the  Wisconsin-ward  migration 
were  not  called  upon  to  abandon  the  home  to  which  they  had  led 
their  people.  John  W.  Quinney  died  1855,  July  21st.  tpon  a 
marble  slab,  now  grown  mossy,  in  the  old  Indian  cemetery  by  the 
lakeside,  is  the  legend,  "John  Metoxen,  died  April  8th,  1858,  aged 
87  years."  We  have  a  right  to  claim  as  our  own  this  son  of  Massa 
chusetts.  Let  his  name  stand  first  in  the  list  of  Wisconsin's  hon 
ored  laymen.  Aside  from  Dr.  Morse,  he  was  probably  the  first  to 
hold  public  worship  on  Wisconsin  soil  according  to  the  simple  rites 
of  the  Puritan.  And  he  was  the  first,  after  the  departure  of  the 
early  French  Jesuits  (who  are  so  much  overpraised  and  whose  work 
is  so  much  overvalued  by  sentimentalists  and  sectarians)  to  main 
tain  here  regularly  the  public  worship  of  Almighty  God. 

During  our  late  war,  not  less  than  thirty-eight  men,  more  than 
one-tenth  of  the  entire  tribe,  enlisted  in  the  Union  army.  Heavy 
were  their  losses  by  disease.  But  not  one  deserted.  This  tak 
ing  of  men  from  the  infant  settlement  must  have  greatly  retarded 
its  development. 

Deprived  of  their  leaders  and  neglected  by  our  ministers  and 
missionary  societies,  the  Indians  suffered  their  old  church  organ 
ization  to  lapse.  A  Methodist  church  took  its  place  and  Mr.  Sling- 
erland,  who  was  teaching  the  government  school,  became  a  local 
preacher  of  that  denomination.  "But  the  old  faithful  ones,"  writes 
his  widow,  "could  not  feel  at  home."  Mr.  Slingerland's  preferences 
were  for  a  Presbyterian  church,  and  one  was  organized  in  Septem 
ber,  1867,  to  which  he  ministered  until  his  death  in  1884.  Christian 
work  was  steadily  maintained  though  the  church  was  pastorless 
until  October,  1887,  when  Rev.  A.  W.  Williams  began  a  year's  ser 
vice.  In  April,  1889,  Rev.  Thomas  Knox  Fisher  bagan  his  labors. 
"The  work,"  he  wrote,  "is  certainly  very  encouraging."  But  he  re 
mained  only  two  years.  He  was  succeeded,  probably  in  July,  1891, 


AT  STOCKBRIDGE.--AND  AWAY!  45 

by  Thomas  H,  Haug.  He  was  ill-adapted  to  his  field  and  left  in 
or  about  February,  1892.  Rev.  Jacob  Van  Kensslaer  Hughes,  Pres 
byterian  pastor  of  Shawano,  now  shepherds  these  people  as  he  can 
amid  other  duties  of  a  faithful  pastorate. 

In  1871  some  of  the  families  renounced  the  tribal  condition 
and  became  citizens,  A  movement  is  now  on  foot  to  break  up  the 
reservation  system  and  allot  land  in  severalty.  It  would  seem  that 
this  might  better  have  been  done  half  a  century  ago. 

Doubtless  these  people  are  somewhat  broken  in  spirit.  But 
their  history  is  an  inspiration.  And  if  this  story  of  their  past  shall 
help  to  make  better  the  present  and  the  future,  he  who  has  written 
this  imperfect  sketch  will  be  glad. 

In  closing  the  story  of  these  people  we  remember  that  they 
have  been  served  in  the  pastorate  by  men  of  as  eminent  piety  and 
as  great  ability  as  America,  or  perhaps  the  world,  has  yet  pro 
duced,  that  repeatedly  they  have  carried  the  light  of  Christian  civ 
ilization  into  the  wilderness,  that  theirs  was  the  first  evangelical 
church  in  what  is  now  Wisconsin,  and  that  from  their  humble  mis 
sion  went  light  to  the  region  round  about  and  to  tribes  in  the  dark 
ness  of  heathenism.  When  the  Romanists  had  here  no  resident 
priest,  when  no  Methodist  itinerant  had  yet  penetrated  this  wilder 
ness,  and  in  it  the  Episcopalians  had  neither  church  nor  minister, 
these  Christian  Indians  came  hither  as  an  organized  church,  and 
this  church  before  any  other  was  organized  here,  God  blessed  with 
a  revival.  The  first  free  school  in  Wisconsin  was  theirs,  and  the 
first  of  the  great  company  of  women  who  here  publish  the  divine 
word  of  education  was  of  Stockbridge  blood.  As  years  went  on 
they  aided,  through  their  pastor,  in  establishing  churches  among 
the  whites.  Fugitives  from  slavery  found  shelter  in  their  settle 
ment.  Better  than  their  service  in  six  wars  for  our  country,  is  the 
fact  that  wherever  they  lived  there  are  now  churches  and  schools 
which  they  helped  to  found  and  homes  which  they  helped  to  make. 
Surely  these  Muh-he-ka-ne-ok,  "the  people  of  the  waters  that  are 
never  still,"  have  a  claim  upon  the  grateful  remembrance  of  all  who 
love  our  Lord  Christ. 


APPENDIX. 


CONSTITUTION 


OF  THE 


STOCKBRIDGE  AND  MUNSEE  TRIBE 

OF        INDIANS. 


A  council  was  called  and  held  by  the  males  of  the  Moh-he-con- 
news  (commonly  called  the  Stockbridge  and  Munsee  tribe)rat  Aaron 
Konkaput's  house  at  our  new  homes  near  the  southern  boundary 
of  the  Menomonee  Reservation,  in  the  State  of  Wisconsin,  this  30th 
day  of  December,  A,  D.,  1856. 

Resolved,  That  John  N.  Chicks,  Timothy  Jourdan  and  Ziba 
T.  Peters  be  a  committee  to  form  a  Constitution  similar  to  that 
heretofore  adopted  by  the  tribe  and  to  present  the  same  week  from 
to-day  for  adoption. 

Resolved,  That  the  tract  of  land  granted  to  the  united  nation 
of  the  Stockbridge  and  Munsee  Indians  and  is  located  in  the  State 
of  Wisconsin,  near  on  the  north  side  of  the  southern  boundary  line 
of  the  Menomonee  Reservation  and  west  from  Wolf  Eiver,  shall 
hereafter  be  called  or  named,  Moh-he-con-nuck,  and  by  this  name 
the  place  aforesaid  shall  ever  hereafter  be  designated  in  all  public 
acts  and  documents  whereinsoever  it  may  be  named. 

Resolved,  That  the  council  now  adjourn  until  one  week  from 
to-day,  when  there  shall  be  an  election  of  national  officers,  and  that 
Ziba  T.  Peters,  the  Sachem ,  be  authorized  to  provide  victuals  for 
the  people  on  the  expense  of  the  nation. 

Entered  of  record  by  Pou-poon-hout,  alias 

JOHN  N.  CHICKS. 

Pursuant  to  adjournment,  the  males  of  said  tribe  held  a 
general  council  at  the  dwelling  house  of  John  Yoccum,  this 
6th  day  of  January,  A.  D.  1857.  The  committee  reported  the  fol- 


THE  CONSTITUTION.  49 

lowing  articles  of  Constitution,  which  were  read  and  adopted  and 
are  in  the  following  words,  to-wit: 


Cor\stiti_itiot\. 

Whereas,  The  Great  Spirit  has  made  His  mighty  arm  bare  in 
the  preservation  and  establishment  of  a  part  of  the  Moh- he-con  - 
neew  (known  as  the  Stockbridge  and  Munsee  tribe),  on  the  western 
part  of  the  Wolf  River,  on  the  north  side  of  the  southern  boundary 
line  of  the  Menomonee  Reservation,  in  the  State  of  Wisconsin. 

Therefore,  We,  the  Chiefs,  Braves  and  Warriors  of  the  Stock- 
bridge  and  Munsee  tribe,  being  assembled  at  one  new  fire  place  at 
Moh-he-con-nuk,  in  the  State  of  Wisconsin,  this  6th  day  of  Janu 
ary,  A.  D.  1857,  having  considered  t^at  our  peculiar  situation  high 
ly  demands  combined  efforts  in  order  the  more  efficiently  to  exe 
cute  our  best  intentions  and  purposes  hereinafter  enumerated,  do 
hereby  voluntarily  make,  ordain  and  declare,  that  the  following  ar 
ticles  shall  be  considered  as  articles  of  our  union  and  confedera 
tions,  which  shall  remain  unalterable  unless  by  common  consent. 

Article    I. 

There  shall  be  no  distinction  made  of  the  united  tribe  of  Stock- 
bridge  and  Munsee  Indians  on  account  of  descent  or  birth  (saving 
where  character  and  qualification  shall  render  any  person  ineligible 
for  any  post  of  trust  or  honor),  but  all  shall  alike  be  entitled  to  en 
joy  the  rights,  privileges  and  advantages  of  the  nation. 

Article    II. 

That  all  such  of  the  Stock  bridges  and  Munsees,  whether  they 
are  now  residing  in  the  State  of  New  York  or  Wisconsin,  or  any 
where  in  the  United  States,  who  were  not  provided  for  either  in 
land  or  money,  shall  at  least  have  the  privilege  of  coming  and  tak 
ing  up  lots  of  land  on  the  tract  given  to  the  Stockbridges  and  Mun 
sees,  by  the  treaty  of  February  5th,  1856. 

Article    III. 

Every  male  of  the  age  of  twenty-one  years  or  upwards  (or  un 
der  twenty-one  years  if  legally  married,  in  which  case  he  shall  be 
admitted  on  an  equal  footing  with  those  of  the  age  aforesaid),  shall 
be  entitled  to  vote  for  national  officers  herein  elective. 


50  THE   CONSTITUTION. 

Article    IV. 

Schools  and  the  means  of  education  shall  ever  be  encouraged. 
Article    V. 

No  person  or  any  assembly  of  people,  met  for  the  worship  of 
God  on  the  Lord's  day  or  at  any  other  time,  shall  be  disturbed. 

Article    VI. 

There  shall  be  a  Sachem  elected  for  the  term  of  three  years, 
and  five  Counsellors  for  the  term  of  one  year.  One  of  the  Counsel 
lors  shall  be  chosen  by  the  Sachem  and  Counsellors  a  Secretary, 
whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  keep  all  the  acts  and  proceedings  of  the 
Councils,  and  generally  do  such  writing  of  a  public  nature  as  be 
required  by  the  Sachem  and  Counsellors;  and  in  consequence  of 
the  death,  resignation  or  necessary  absence  of  the  Sachem,  one  of 
the  Counsellors  who  received  the  highest  number  of  votes,  shall  ex 
ecute  all  the  power  and  perform  all  the  duties  of  the  Sachem,  dur 
ing  the  vacancy  occasioned  by  the  resignation ,  death  or  necessary 
absence  of  the  said  Sachem.  "And  in  case  of  the  death  or  resigna 
tion  of  a  Counsellor,  the  Sachem  shall  by  notice,  either  in  writing" 
or  otherwise,  appoint  a  time  and  place  to  elect  another  in  his  stead 
to  serve  for  the  residue  of  the  term.  The  Sachem  and  the  two 
others  who  had  received  the  highest  number  of  votes  for  Counsel 
lors,  shall  constitute  the  high  court  of  the  nation. 

Article    VII. 

A  Treasurer,  two  Peace  makers,  two  Path  Masters  and  one 
Sheriff,  shall  be  elected  annually  on  the  day  of  election,  and  their 
powers  and  duties  shall  be  prescribed  by  law. 

Article    VIII. 

The  general  election  shall  be  held  on  the  first  Tuesday  of  Jan 
uary  annually,  and  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Secretary  to  give  no 
tice  of  the  day  of  election,  by  posting  up  notices  in  two  or  three  of 
the  most  public  places  of  the  town  at  least  six  days  before  the  day 
of  election. 

Article    IX. 

The  election  shall  be  by  ballot. 

Article    X. 

The  election  shall  be  opened  between  the  hours  of  nine  and 
ten  o'clock  in  the  forenoon  and  shall  be  kept  open  until  four 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon. 


THE   CONSTITUTION.  51 

Article    XI. 

The  Legislative  Council  and  High  Court  of  the  Nation  shall 
be  held  at  such  time  as  shall  be  provided  by  law. 

Article    XII. 

The  Sachem  and  the  five  Counsellors  or  a  majority  of  them,  shall 
adopt  such  of  their  original  laws,  criminal  and  civil,  as  may  be 
necessary  and  best  suited  to  the  circumstances  of  the  tribe.  They 
also  shall  have  the  authority  to  make  other  laws  in  all  cases  for  the 
good  government  of  the  tribe,  not  repugnant  to  any  of  the  articles 
herein  enumerated. 

Article    XIII- 

Bill     of     Righite, 

SECTION  1. — All  men  are  born  equally  free  and  independent". 
All  power  is  inherent  in,  and  all  government  of  right  originates 
with  the  people,  is  founded  in  their  authority  and  instituted  for 
their  peace,  safety  and  happiness. 

SECTION  2. — The  people  shall  at  all  times  have  the  right  in  a 
peaceable  manner  to  assemble  together  to  consult  for  the  common 
good. 

SECTION  3.— Excessive  bail  shall  not  be  required.  Excessive 
fines  shall  not  be  imposed  and  cruel  and  unjust  punishment  shall 
not  be  inflicted. 

SECTION  4.-  No  person  shall  be  deprived  of  his  liberty  or  prop 
erty,  but  by  the  judgment  of  his  part  or  the  law  of  the  Nation; 
should  the  public  exigencies  make  it  necessary  for  the  common 
preservation,  to  take  any  person's  property  or  to  demand  his  par 
ticular  services,  full  compensation  shall  be  made  for  the  same. 

Article    XIV. 

The  Sachem,  Counsellors,  Treasurer,  Peace  Makers,  Path  Mas 
ters  and  Sheriff  shall,  before  they  enter  upon  the  duties  of  their  re 
spective  offices,  take  and  subscribe  the  following  affirmation :  I  do 
solemnly  affirm  that  I  will  support  the  constitution  and  laws  of  this 
nation  and  that  I  will  faithfully  discharge  the  duties  of  the  office 
of  -  —  according  to  the  best  of  my  ability. 
Article  XV. 

Immediately  after  the  signing  of  the  articles  herein  enumerat 
ed,  the  Council  will  proceed  to  elect  two  or  three  inspectors  for  the 
election  of  such  officers  as  are  required  in  the  foregoing  articles  by 


52 


THE  CONSTITUTION. 


ballot,  and  who  shall  act  in  that  capacity  to  all  intents  and  pur 
poses  therein,  during  the  term  in  which  they  are  elected. 

As   witness  our  names  and  marks,  the  day  and  year  above 
written. 

JEREMIAH   SLINGERLAND. 

JOHN   W.   QUINNEY,  JR. 


ZIBA  T.  PETERS. 
JOHN  (X)  YOCCUM. 
HUMBLE  JOURDEN. 
CORNELIUS  M.  ANTHONY. 
DANIEL  (X)  GARDNER. 
JACOB  (X)  KONKAPOT. 
TIMOTHY  (X)  JOURDEN. 
ELI  WILLIAMS. 
HARVEY  (X)  JOHNSON. 
JOHN  P.  HENDRICKS. 
JACOB  JACOBS. 
JEREMIAH  SLINGERLAND 
CORNELIUS  LITTLEMAN. 
CORNELIUS  (X)  YOCCUM. 
AARON  KONKAPOT. 
GEORGE  T.  BENNETT. 
ALEXANDER  (X)  \VILBER. 
DANIEL  TOUCEY. 
JOHN  W.  QUINNEY,  JR. 
MOSES  (X)  SMITH. 
JASPER  (X)  BENNETT. 
STEPHEN  GARDNER. 


BENJAMIN  (X)  PYE,  THIRD. 
PAUL  W.  QUINNEY. 
LEVI  S.  (X)  KONKAPOT. 
LEVI  (X)  HALF  TOWN. 
JEFFERSON  (X)  HALF  TOWN. 
DOC.    X)  BIG  DEER. 
JESSE  M.  JOURDON. 
JOSEPH  L.  CHICKS. 
JOHN  N.  CHICKS. 
ADAM  DAVIDS. 
CORNELIUS  AARON. 
WILLIAM  GARDNER. 
JEDEDIAH  WILBER. 
EDWARD  (X|  BOWMAN. 
ISAAC  DURKEE. 
JONATHAN  (X)  WATERMAN 
P.  D.  LITTLEMAN. 
DENNIS  T.  TURKEY. 
JOHN  (X)  LEWIS. 
WILLIAM  (X)  HIGH  FLY. 


[Of  course  the  attempt  has  been  made  to  reproduce  faithfully 
the  transcript  of  the  constitution  given  me.  This  accounts  for  the 
two  spellings  of  the  name  declared  to  be  that  of  the  reservation,-  - 
a  name  seldom  used  but  worthy  of  practical  adoption.  The  "s"  in 
"confederations"  in  the  preamble  may  be  a  mis-reading. 

The  government  established  by  this  constitution  has  lapsed. 
In  reality  "Mohheconnuk"  is  governed  by  the  United  States  Indian 
agent.  The  practical  socialism  of  the  system  which  he  administers 
seems  to  be  a  failure.] 


ADDENDA. 


The  Bible  of  which  mention  is  made  oa  page  seven  contains 
the  following  inscription: 

This  with  another  volume,  containing  the  Holy  Bible,  is  the 
pious  gift  of  the  Reverend  Doct.  Francis  Ayscouth,  [Clerk  of  the 
Closet  to  His  Royal  Highness  Frederick,  Prince  of  Wales  ), 

To  the  use  of  the  Congregation  of  Indians,  at  or  near  Housa- 
tonic,  in  a  vast  wilderness,  part  of  New  England 5  who  are,  at  pres 
ent,  the  voluntary  Care,  and  Instruction,  of  the  Learned  and  Relig 
ious  Mr.  John  Sergeant,  and  is  to  remain  to  the  use  of  the  Success 
ors  of  those  Indians  from  generation  to  generation;  as  a  testimony 
of  the  said  Doctor's  Great  Regard  for  the  Salvation  of  their  souls — 
and  is  over  and  above  other  Benefits,  which  he  most  cheerfully  ob 
tained  for  the  encouragement  of  said  Mr.  Sergeant,  and  in  favor  of 
the  said  Indians, 

At  the  Request  of  their  hearty  Friend  and  Weil  Wisher, 

THOMAS   CORAM. 
London,  the  31st  day  of  December,  1745. 

It  is  my  impression  that  Captain  Coram  was  in  England  as  so 
liciting  agent  for  the  Stockbridge  "charity  school."  Accordingly  I 
cherish  his  memory  with  feelings  of  mournful  and  sympathetic  in 
terest.  Then  as  now  the  greater  part  of  the  money  needed  to  es 
tablish  institutions  of  higher  education  must  needs  be  provided  by 
the  lobbyist  or  the  solicitor. 


Gideon  Hawley,  whose  name  occurs  on  page  thirteen  deserves 
somewhat  more  of  mention  than  is  there  given  him.  He  graduated 
at  Yale  in  1749.  He  dated  his  service  at  Stockbridge  from  the  5th 
of  February,  1752.  His  work  there  seems  for  the  most  part  to  have 
been  among  ''Mohawks,  Oneidas  and  Tuscaroras  from  Kanajohar- 
ry  and  Onohoghwage."  He  preached  to  them  and  taught  their 


54  ADDENDA. 

children.  In  September,  1752,  he  visited  the  Iroquois  in  New 
York.  Apparently  he  determined  to  establish  a  mission  among 
them.  Of  his  second  departure  from  Stockbridge  to  New  York  he 
writes:  "It  was  on  Tuesday,  May  22nd,  1753,  when  Mr.  Wood- 
bridge,  myself  and  company  set  out  from  Stockbridge  for  the  In 
dian  country.  Our  departure  upon  so  great  an  errand  as  the  plant 
ing  of  Christianity  in  the  wilderness  about  an  hundred  miles  be 
yond  any  settlement  of  Christian  people  drew  the  attention  of  the 
whole  town.  And  the  Rev.  Mr.  Edwards,  his  wife  and  others  ac 
companied  us  a  considerable  distance  into  the  words  toward  Kin- 
derhook."  The  end  of  their  journey  seems  to  have  been  Onoh- 
quaga  f  on  the  Susquehannna. 

These  men  found  among  the  Indians  a  wish  for  a  prohibitory 
liquor-law.  Mr.  Woodbridge  represents  J  Indians  as  desiring  to 
say  to  the  governor,  "My  brother,  I  would  have  you  tell  the  great 
men  at  Albany,  Skenectetee  and  Skohary  §  not  to  bring  us  any 
more  rum." 

Mr.  Hawley's  stay  in  New  York  could  not  have  been  a  long 
one.  "I  was  ordained  in  the  Old  South  meeting-house  (Boston) 
81st  Juty,  1754."  Immediately  thereafter  he  removed  again  to 
Stockbridge.  After  he  was  driven  from  this  place  by  Colonel  Wil- 
liams's  machinations  he  labored,  according  to  E.  W.  B.  Canning, 
among  the  Indians  in  New  York  until  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolu 
tionary  War.  Then  he  served  as  chaplain  in  the  colonial  army. 
Died  at  the  age  of  eighty  years,  1807,  October  3d. 

As  Jonathan  Edwards  has  been  again  mentioned,  we  may  here 
give  the  date  of  the  dismissing  council  at  Northampton :  1750, 
JUmuiy  "Qtti.f'TTi.  was  installed  at  Stockbridge  8th  of  August, 
1751.  The  council  by  which  he  was  advised  to  go  to  Princeton 
met  1758,  January  4th. 


Under  date  of  1890,  July  3d,  Miss  Sarah  E.  Marsh  expressly 
states,  doubtless  from  information  derived  through  her  father,  that 
Metoxen  and  his  party  from  Indiana  came  to  Green  Bay  in  1822. 

f  NOTE. — Doubtless  the  "Onohoghwage"  named  above. 
|  NOTE.— In  a  letter  to  Governor  Sir  William  Johnson,  dated  at  Albany, 
1753,  June  26th. 

§  NOTE.— Schenectady  and  Skoharie. 


ADDENDA.  55 

She  mentions  also  a  Mimsee  pagan  family  who-  came  from  New 
York  that  same  year.  It  is  not  likely  that  they  came  alone.  We 
may  conclude  then  that,  as  M r.  Ellis  says,  a  party  of  emigrants  did 
come  from  New  York  that  autumn,  f  The  family  that  Miss  Marsh 
mentions  became  Christians.  They  took  the  name  of  Scott.  After 
the  early  death  of  their  son  Cosen,  who  was  converted  in  1837,  Mr. 
Marsh,  deeply  moved  by  the  young  man's  religious  experience, 
made  it  the  subject  of  a  published  narrative. 


It  may  have  been  noticed  that  the  Indian  church  and  mission  of 
early  years  in  Wisconsin  are  sometimes  spoken  of  as  Congregation 
al  and  sometimes  as  Presbyterian.  Doubtless  the  church  was  orig 
inally  Congregational.  In  New  York  it  may  have  become  con 
nected,  according  to  the  "plan  of  union"  with  some  presbytery.  We 
have  seen  what  was  its  relationship  here.  It  was  successively  con 
nected  with  the  Madison  and  Winnebago  local  conventions.  At 
the  organization  of  the  former,  1846,  November  17th,  it  was  repre 
sented  by  Austin  E.  Quinney  as  delegate.  Rev.  Jesse  Miner  is 
spoken  of  as  a  Presbyterian  by  his  daughter,  and  such  was  Mr. 
Marsh's  denominational  preference  also.  For  he  was  one  of  those 
who  in  the  autumn  of  1851  helped  organize  the  (new  school)  pres 
bytery  of  Columbus. 

Of  the  removal  to  the  present  Stockbridge  reservation  Mrs, 
Slingerland  wrote  (1891,  January  6th):  "My  husband  and  I  came 
here  in  1857,  in  February.  We  were  on  the  road  with  sleighs  two 
days,  the  14th  and  15th.  The  rest  of  the  tribe  came  as  they  could. 
The  last  came  two  years  after  the  treaty  was  made.  From  dates 
which  I  have  we  had  been  here  some  six  or  seven  years  before  the 
Methodist  church  was  organized,  in  1863-4.  But  from  the  time  we 
came  we  met  together  for  Sabbath  services  every  Sabbath  and  for 
Thursday  prayer  meetings.  *  *  *  *  The  Methodist 
church  continued  until  th°*  present  Presbyterian  church  was  organ 
ized." 

Mr.  Slingerland  was  ordained  by  the  presbytery  of  Winnebago 
probably  about  the  time  the  church  was  reorganized  under  the 
present  form.  "For  thirty  years,"  his  wife  wrote,  "we  enjoyed  the 

t  See  page  twenty-two.    , 


56  ADDENDA. 

training  of  the  children,  not  only  in  the  sciences  but  in  moral  and 
religious  principles.  Mr.  Slingerland  would  teach  the  school  from 
New  Year's  day  to  the  last  of  April,  Then  I  would  take  the  school 
until  Christmas."  Thus  Mrs.  Slingerland  wrote  under  date  of  1890r 
September  19th. 

Mr.  Slingerland  was  born,  181 8T  February  6th.  His  father  was 
a  white  man,  his  mother  a  Muh-he-ka-ne-ew.  The  son  was  educat 
ed  at  Dartmouth,  Owing  to  the  fact  that  he  was  an  Indian  he  pro 
bably  received,  both  there  and  at  Bangor,  more  attention  than  was 
good  for  him.  It  is  said  that  he  was  somewhat  of  a-  ladies'  pet. 
At  the  time  of  his  marriage  in  1852,  himself  and  wife  were  members 
of  the  church  of  Neenah.  f  Whether  or  not  he  ever  made  that 
place  his  home  1  do  not  know.  Were  his  good  wife  living, — she 
died  last  year  in  Minnesota, — it  would  perhaps  grieve  her  to  have 
me  leave  unsaid  some  of  the  things  she  so  sincerely  believed  con 
cerning  him.  And  1  dare  not  say  that  she  did  not  have  good  rea 
sons  for  her  belief.  Mr.  Slingerland  died  1884,  June  5th, 


Miss  Quinney,  Wisconsin's  first  school  mistress,  J  was  ed 
ucated  at  Clinton,  New  York,  and  at  Cornwall,  Connecticut.  At 
the  latter  place  she  spent  six  years.  It  was  in  1828  that  she  began 
to  teach  the  mission  school  at  Statesburg, — probably,  as  I  have 
said,  the  first  free  school  in  Wisconsin. 

"The  Hon.  E.  S.  Miner  of  Necedah,  §  one  of  her  pupils,  says 
that  she  was  a  better  teacher  than  the  average  of  teachers  to-day. 
Her  methods,  many  of  them,  were  similar  to  those  of  the  present 
day.  The  pupils  were  mostly  Indian  children,  but  the  language 
used  was  English.  Daboll  and  Smith's  arithmetic,  Webster's 
spelling  book,  the  old  English  reader,  Columbian  orator  and  Wood- 
bridge's  geography  were  her  text  books.  There  was  no  Wisconsin 
then,  all  Michigan  on  both  sides  of  the  lake.  The  Indians  were 
poor  in  mathematics,  but  excelled  in  penmanship.  She  rarely 

t  NOTE.— Congregational  at  first,  now  Presbyterian. 

t  NOTE.— In  this  same  year,  according  to  Secretary  R.  G.  Thwaites,  a  Miss 
Caroline  Russell  taught  at  Shanty  town,  an  early  settlement  whose  site  is  near 
the  present  city  of  Green  Bay. 

§  NOTE.— Son  ef  Rev.  Jesse  Miner  and  member  (1871-2)  of  the  Wisconsin 
senate. 


ADDENDA.  57 

whipped;  opened  her  school  with  prayer.  It  was  modeled  after 
the  best  public  schools  of  New  England  at  that  time.  The  school 
was  in  connection  with  a  Presbyterian  mission.  She  refused  to 
marry  the  sheriff  of  Brown  county;  too  proud  to  marry  a  w*hite  man, 
she  married  an  Indian  minister,  and  lived  to  a  good  old  age  in  Wis 
consin.  Sixty-three  years  finds  great  improvements  in  the  school 
system  of  Wisconsin,  but  whether  a  child  at  present  gets  any  bet 
ter  knowledge  of  the  elementary  branches  during  the  first  ten  years 
of  his  life  than  he  did  then  is  doubted." 

To  the  above,  from  the  <;Door  county  Advocate,"  may  be  add 
ed  paragraphs  from  an  article  f  by  Superintendent  Henry 
Severin  of  New  Ho] stein,  Calumet  county: 

"Miss  Quinney  was  highly  respected  by  the  whites,  and  moved 
in  their  best  society  at  Fort  Howard.  She  married  Daniel 
Adams,  a  Methodist  clergyman.  Mr.  Adams  was  a  Mohawk  In 
dian,  and  at  that  time  a  missionary  to  the  Oneidas,  and  is  spoken 
of  as  a  pious  and  intelligent  man.  With  him  she  removed  to  Mis 
souri,  where  he  became  pastor  to  a  band  of  Senecas.  After  his 
death  she  became  the  wife  of  a  Cherokee  editor,  with  whom,  after 
some  years,  she  returned  to  her  farm  in  Stockbridge,  which  her  son  J 
has  lately  sacrificed  in  order  to  push  a  claim  that  his  kinsmen  be 
lieve  they  have  against  the  United  States.  Here  she  died  about 
eight  years  ago. 

"About  one  mile  north  of  the  little  village  of  Stockbridge  on  the 
east  shore  of  Lake  Winnebago,  is  a  small  graveyard.  In  the  midst 
of  monuments  telling  of  sachems  and  other  notables  of  the  Stock- 
bridges,  is  a  little  mound  of  turf  with  a  few  scanty  flower  bushes 
upon  it:  it  covers  the  remains  of  Electa  Quinney,  Wisconsin's  First 
Teacher."  § 

In  connection  with  this  subject  of  early  schools  the  second  note 
on  page  twenty-seven  contains  certain  errors.  Thomas  S.  Johnson 
of  Onondago,  New  York,  was  probably  the  first  man  who  taught 
school  at  Green  Bay  and  so  the  first  to  teach  within  the  present 

t  NOTE.— Wisconsin  Journal  of  Education,  December,  189h 

t  NOTE.— John  Clark  Adams. 

§  NOTE.— "She  was  born,"  Mr.  Severin  says,  "about  eighty-seven  years 
ago.  *  *  *  *  First  taught  school  among  the  Indians  in  New 
York." 


58  ADDENDA. 

limits  of  Wisconsin.  His  agreement  with  those  who  became  his 
patrons  was  "to  teach  reading,  writing,  arithmetic  and  the  English 
language,  during  the  space  of  nine  months  from  this  date"  (the 
10th  of  November,  1817  ).f 


The  slaves  whom  the  writer  had  in  mind  were  brought  by  a 
Mr.  Goodell  to  Green  Bay  and  hidden  there  in  the  belfry  of  the 
church  by  Pastor  and  Mrs.  Porter.  That  was  probably  in  1855. 
See  page  forty-five. 


The  "six  wars"  were  Queen  Anne's,  King  George's,  the  French 
and  Indian,  the  Revolution,  the  second  war  with  Britain  and  the 
pro-slavery  rebellion.  See  page  forty-five. 


The  use  of  the  Gregorian  calendar  was  legally  established  in 
Great  Britain  and  her  colonies  by  enacting  that  the  day  following 
the  2nd  of  September,  1752,  should  be  accounted  the  14th  of  that 
month.  In  speaking  of  Dr.  Bellamy's  letter  I  should  have  said 
that  the  date  thereof  is  probably  new  style,  not  old.  J 


A  story  told  by  Mrs.  Benson  needs  no  comment :  An  Indian, 
having  been  refused  credit  for  whisky,  filled  his  jug  with  water 
and  rowed  past  where  Mr.  Marsh  was  standing  on  the  lake  shore. 
The  good  missionary  entreated  the  Indian  to  pour  out  the  (suppos 
ed)  whisky,  and  finally  offered  him  a  dollar  if  he  would  do  so. 
This  the  Indian  did  and,  as  the  water  had  not  taken  the  smell  of 
whisky  from  the  jug,  Mr.  Marsh  was  deceived  and  paid  the  dollar. 
With  the  money  the  Indian  returned  to  the  saloon  keeper  and  got 
for  cash  what  he  could  not  get  on  credit. 

t  NOTE.— Of  Jacobs'or,  rather,  "J.  Bte.  S.  Jacobs,"  as  he  wrote  his  name,— 
the  "S."  being  for  Ste.,  or  St.,— I  feel  certain  of  little  save  that  morally  and  oth 
erwise  he  was  totally  unfitted  to  be  a  teacher. 

J  NOTE. — Other  errata  should  be  mentioned  :  "These"  for  "those,"  intro 
duction,  page  xiv,  twelfth  line  ;"Thackeray"  for  the  mis  spelling  on  page  seven; 
"whoever"  for  "wherever,"  page  sixteen,  second  note;  and  the  corrected 
possessive  "Chicks's"  on  page  forty.  "York  money,"  says  Professor  A.  L. 
Perry,  "was  issued  at  an  avowed  discount  of  twenty-five  per  cent."  Seepage 
eight. 


INDEX. 


Page. 

Abraham  (a  Mimsee),  19 

Adams,  Daniel  57 

Adams,  John  Clark  57 

Adams,  Sabra  Howes  41 

Albany,  3,  8,  54 

Albany  county,  26 

Algonkin,  2 

Alps,  29 

Ambler,  Augustas  T.  26 

America,  45 
American  Board, 

xiv,  30,  34,  35?  42 

] 

Bangor  seminary,  40,  56 

Barber,  Abel  Lester  34 

Basel,  29 

Bellamy,  Joseph  13,  58 

Belcher,  Governor  Jonathan  2,  4 
Beloit  college,  xiii 

Bennett,  George  Thomas  26 
Benson,  Rev.  H.  H.  41 

Benson,  Mrs.  H.  H.  42,  58 

Berkshire  county,  2 

Bethlem,  13 

Black  Hawk,  36 

Blaisdell,  Prof.  J.  J.        xiii,  xiv 
Board  of  Commissioners  for 
Indian  Affairs,  1 

( 

Cades,  23 

Cadle,  Rev.  Richard  Fish  29 
Calhoun,  John  Caldwell  22 
Camp,  Rev.  C.  W.  xiv 

Canada,  15,  19,  27,  39 

Canning,  E.  W.  B. 

9,10,13,16,54 


Page. 
American    Board,    Mission 

house  of  the  27 

American  Missionary  Asso 
ciation,  18 
Appenoose,  37 
Andover  seminary,  xiv 
Ark  of  the  Covenant,  28 
Army,  Union  44 
Arnold,  Benedict  15 
Aupaumut,  Hendrick  19,  20,  27 
Ayscouth,  Rev.  Dr.  Francis 

xiii,  7,  27,  53 
t 

Boston,  2,  13 

Boyd,  James  Madison        26,  31 
Bradley,  Isaac  S.  xiii 

Brainerd,  David  8,  9,  11 

Brothertown  settlement,  17 

Brothertowns,  16,  27 

Brown  county,  57 

Brunson,  Rev.  Alfred  30 

Bull,  Rev.  Nehemiah  3 

Burgoyne,  15 

Burgoyne's  surrender,  19 

Bushnell,  Horace   ^  xi 

Buttes  de  Morte,  35 


Carlisle,  7 

Cayugas,  44 

Cedar  Hill,  26 

Chalemuc,  2 

Charles,  Cornelius  S.  30 
"Charles,     Landgrave    of 

Hesse,  Denmark/'  28 


INDEX. 


Puge. 

Champlain,  Lake  ix 

Cheekthaukon,  Jacob  30 

Chequamegon  Bay,  xii 

Cherokee  editor,  57 

Chicago,  23 

Chicks,  J.  N.  40,  48,  58 

Childs,  "Colonel"  Ebenezer  26 
Choctaws,  26 

Christianity,  obstacles  to  26 
Clapp,  Rev.  Luther  xiv 

Clay,  39 

Clinton,  19,  56 

Clinton,  Governor  De  Witt  24 
Clinton,  Rev.  O.  P.  42 

Cohahatatea,  2 

Congregation  alists,  21 

Congregational  mission  ,  40 
Cook's  Corners,  Baptist 

church  of  20 

Constitution  of  Stockbvidge 

and  Munsee  tribe  48,  49 


Page. 

Colloden,  7 

Colton,  Rev.  Calvin 

7,  27,  28,  29,  43 

Columbus,  presbytery  of          22 
Commissioners,  Board  of,  for 

Indian  Affairs  1 

Comnmck,  Thomas  16 

Congress,  vii,  40 

Congress,  Continental  15 

Conkepot,  1 

Connecticut,         6,  10, 13,  22,  27 
Convention,  Presbyterian  and 

Congregational 

vii,  xiii,  39,  42.  43. 
Coram,  Thomas,  xiii,  53 

Cornwall,  56 

Crete,  Nebraska,  xiii 

Cumberland,  Duke  of  7 

Cumberland  Presbyterians      35 
Cutler,     Colonel     (Captain 

Enos?)  35 


Dakotahs,  29 

Dartmouth  college,  17,  56 

Davidson,  J.  N.  xiii 

Davenport,  Mr.  36 

Deerfield.  4 
Delaware  Indians, 

viii,  2,  9,  18,  19,  20,  21,  31 

Delaware  river,  viii,  9 

Denton,  Rev.  Samuel  30 
Des  Moines  river, 

Detroit,  31 


Dickinson,  "General"    Wil 
liam  26 
Doane  college,                          xiii 
"Door  County  Advocate"        58 
Downer  college,                        xiii 
Durrie,  Daniel  Steele              xiii 
Dutch  traders,  2 
Dutch  settlers,                       5,  10 
D wight,  President  Timothy 
(the  elder)  of  Yale,            1,  18 


Education,  Wisconsin  Jour 
nal  of  57 

Edwards,  Jerusha  9 

Edwards,  Jonathan  (the  el 
der)  xii,  2, 9, 12, 13, 14, 15,23, 54 

Edwards,    Jonathan    (the 
younger)  xii,  1 

Edwards,  Timothy  15 


Ellis,  A.  G.  22,  55 

EJskwatawa,  19 

Ely,  Edward  F.  31 

England,  17 

English  (and  colonists)  12 

Episcopal  mission,  26,  29 

Episcopalians  45 


INDEX. 


61 


Farmingtons, 

Field,  Cyrus  VV. 

Field,  David  Dudley,  D.  D. 

Field,  Justice  Stephen  J. 

Fisher,  Rev.  Thomas  Knox 

Fond  du  Lac, 

Fort  Howard, 

Fox  river, 

Fox  tribe, 


Page. 

16 
6 
2 
6 

44 
xiii 
22,  58 

22,  24,  27,  44 
31 


Page. 

Foxes  36 

Freedom  of  the  Human  Will, 

treatise  on  14 

Frederick,  Prince  of  Wales  7,  53 
French  and  Indian  war,  12,  58 
French, the  2,  35 

Fugitive  slaves,  45.  58 

Fur  company,  American     36,  38 


Galena,  37 

Gavin.  Rev.  Daniel  29,  30 

George  II.,  58 

George  III.,  7,  17 

Goodell,  Mr.  58 

Grand  Cakalin,  31 

Grand  Crossing,  25 

Grand  Kaukaulin,  22,  23 

Grand  Kakalin,  22 


Grande  Kawkawlin,  27 

Great  Barrington,       2,  3,  10,  12 
Great  Britain,  17,  58 

Green  Bay,    2,  22,  23,  25,  27,  29, 
31,34,38,39,54,56,57,58 
Green  Bay  church,  39 

Greene.  Secretary  David          31 
Gregorian  calendar,  58 

Gresham,  x 


Hall,  Chauncey  31,  34,  39 

Hampton,  7 

Harding,  Rev.  John  W.  6 

Harrison,  General  W.  H.  20 

Hartford,  27 

Harvard  college,  7 

Hatfield,  4 

Haug,  Thomas  H.  45 

Hawley,  Rev.  Gideon  13,  53 

Hendrick,  (Aupaumut)  20 

Hendrick,  Solomon  U.  19,  20 

Hendrick,  Thomas  T.  30 

Hesse  Darmstadt  28 


Hoard,  William  Dempster  17 
Hollis,  Rev.  Isaac  7,  8,  10,  13 
Hollis,  Thomas  7 

Hopkins,  Rev.  Samuel 

1,2,3,4,11 
Hopkins,  Rev.  Samuel   (the 

younger)  12 

Housatonic,  7, 53 

Housatonic  riyer,  1 

Housatonics,  1 

Hudson  Bay,  10 

Hudson  river,  2 

Hughes,  J.  V.  xi,  45 


Illinois,  25 

Indiana;  19,20,21,22,54 

Indians,  New  York  act  for 
bidding  sale  of  liquor  to       18 
Indians  (Boston)  society  for 
propagating  the   Gospel 
among  18 


Indian  church, 
"Indian  Town," 
"Indian  ring," 
Iroquois, 


1 
4 

13,15 
2,  10,  39,  54 


62 


INDEX. 


Page. 

Jacobs,  Jean  Baptiste  27,  58 

Jefferson,  President  19,  20 

Jersey  campaigns,  15 

Jesuits,  French  44 

Johnson,  Thomas  S.  57 


Johnson,  Sir  William 
Jones,  J.  P. 
Jones,  Miss  Electa 
Jourdan,  Timothy  T. 


K 


Kananjohary,  53 

Kansas,  39 

Kaukauna,  25,  26 
Kaunaumeek,  8,  9,  11 
Kellogg,  Captain  Martin  10 

Kent,  6 

Kent,  Chancellor  James  24 

Ke-o:kuck  (Ke-o-kuk)  36 


Page. 

54 

42 

2,  17  21 

30,48 


Keshena,  xi 

Kinderhook,  54 

King  Ben,  vii 

Konkapot,  1,  2,  3, 4,  5,  6 

Konkapot ,  Catherine  5 

Konkapot,  Mary  5 

Konkaput,  Aaron  48 


La  Pointe,  xii 
Ladwig,  Nicolaus  6 
Lake  Harriet,  29 
Lake  Superior  Congregation 
al  Club,  xii 
Land  company  (Ogden),  39 
Leavitt,  Orpha  E.  xiii 


Lebanon,  8 
Leni-Lennappes, 

Livingstone  manor,  10 

London,  7,  27,  28 

Longmeadow,  2,  6,  11 

Louis  II.,  28 


1VE 


Mackinaw,  30,  31,  34 

Madison  convention,  55 

Madison  county,  16,  20 

Madeline  Island,  xii 

Mahal  we,  4 

Mahecanittuck,  2 

Manhattan,  ix 

Manhattas,  ix 

Marquette,  29 

Marsh,  Miss  S.  E.         27,  54,  55 
Marsh,  Mrs.  41 

Marsh,  Rev.  Cutting  xi,  xiv,  17, 
20, 27, 31. 32, 33, 35, 38, 40, 42, 
55,58 

Massachusetts,  1,  2,  6,  9,  10,  12, 
15,  17,  18,  44 

Menomonee  reservation,    48,  49 
Menomonees,  xi,  22,  35 

Methodist  church,  44,  55 


Methodist  services,  40 

Metoxen,  John  19,  20, 21,  22,  23, 

25,  30,  33,  35,  36,  37, 39,  44,  54 
Miamis,  19 

Michigan,  31,  56 

Michigan,  Lake  22 

Miller,  Andrew  30 

Miller,  Josiah  W.  30 

Miller,  Samuel  A.  30,  42 

Miller,  W.  G.  40 

Milwaukee,  34 

Milwaukee  Lake  Shore  and 

Western  railway,  26 

"Milwaukee  Sentinel,"  xii 

Miner,  E.  S.  56 

Miner,  Rev.  Jesse 

24,  25,  26,  27,  55,  56 
Minneapolis, 
Minnesota,  30,  31,  56 


"Missionary  Herald," 

21,  24,  32,  39,  40 
Missionary  Society,  United 

Domestic  24 

Missionary  Society,  Ameri 
can  Home  xi,  24,  34 
Missionary  Society,  Congre 
gational  Home  24 
"Missions  on  Cnequamegon 

Bay,"  xii 

Mississippi,        31,  33,  35,  38,  39 
Mississippi,  Upper  29 

Missouri,  29,  39 

Mohawks,  3,  13,  53,  57 

Moheakunnuk,  19,  24 

Mohegans,  viii,  ix,  16 

Mohegan  or  Mohican,  2 

Mohigans  or  Mohicans,  6 

Moh-he-con-neew,  49 


INDEX. 

Page. 

Moh-he-con-news, 


63 


rage. 

48 
2 

16 
6 

17 


Mohicannettuck, 

Montauks, 

Moravians, 

More's  charity  school, 

Morse,  Jedidiah,  D.  D. 

18,  20,  22,  44 

Moshuebee,  15 

Muh-he-con-new,  ix 

Muh-he-con-nuk,  1,2,9, 16,48,49 
Muh-  he-k  a-  ne-ew, 

vii,  xii,  1,  25,  56 

Muh-he-ka-ne-ok,   x,  1,2,  11,  14, 
17,  22,  41,  44,  45 
(Different    forms   of    the 

above  name)  1 

Muh-he-ka-ne-uw,  1 

Mimsee,  19,  49,  55 

Munsees,  viii,  22,  24,  39,  49 


N 


Nanticokes  (Nahanticks)  16 

Narragansetts,  viii,  16 

Nau-nau-neek-nuk,  David       vii 
Nebraska,  xiii,  29 

Necedah,  56 

Neenah,  56 

"Negro  Slavery  in  Wisconsin"  xii 
Nehaiwe,  4 

Newbury,  Oliver  31 

New  England,       7,  9,  12,  29,  57 
New  Haven,  4,  22 

New  Holstein,  57 

New  Jersey,  4,  9,  14 

New  Stockbridge,          16,  17,  18 
New  Stockbridgo  church,        24 


New  York,  2,  6,  8,  10,  13,  15,  16, 

17,  18,  19,  20,  22,  24,  26,  39,  44, 

49,  54,  55,  57 

New  York  city,  24 

"New  York  Indians,"  22 

Newington,  10 

Niagara,  12 

Ninham,  Daniel   (or   Abra 

ham)  15 

Norcross,  Rev.  L.  P.     39,  41,  43 
Northampton,  9,  12,  14 

Northern  Missionary  Society,  22 
"Northwestern    Congrega- 

tionalist,"  xii 

Norwegian  mother,  x 


O 


Occum  Rev.  Samson  17 

Ogden  Land  company.  39 

Ohio,  37 

Ohio,  presbytery  of  21 
Old  South  meeting-house,       54 

Oliver  Newbury  (boat)  31 

Ojibway  mission,  21 

Oneida,  21 


Oneidas,  13,  16,  26,  53,  57 

Oueida  county,  16 

Onohoghwage,  53,  54 

Onondago,  57 

Onondagoes,  44 

Oshkosh,  x 

"Our  Church  Work,"  xii 


64 


INDEX. 


"Panoplist,"  The 

Patchgatcock, 

Pennsylvania, 

Penobscot, 

Penobscots, 

Pequots, 

Perrot,  Nicholas 


Page. 

21 

6 
6 

viii 
viii 
viii 
29 

Perry,  Professor  Arthur  La 
tham  13,  58 
Peters,  Ziba  T.  48 
Phelps,  William  .  37 
Philadelphia,  17 
Pine  Bend,  36 
Piqua,  21 
Pooh-poo-ntic  (Poo-poo-nah)  3,  5 
Pon-poon-haut,  48 


Page. 

Portage.  36 

Porter,  Rev.  Jeremiah,  I).  D. 

xiv,  39 
Prairie  du  Chien, 

26,  27,  29,  30,  35,  36 
Preacher,  The  14 

Presbyterians,  21 

Presbyterian  church,  44,  55 

Presbyterian  mission,  57 

Protestant  sermon,   first   in 

Wisconsin  22 

Protestant  church-building ; 

first  in  Wisconsin,  25 

Princeton,  14, 54 

Puritan  church,  26 

Puritan,  44 


Queen  Anne,  59 

Quinney,  Austin  E.       19,  30,  55 
Quinney,  Miss  Electa  W. 

27,  56,  57 


Quinney,  John  W. 

vii,  ix,  24,  30,  39,  44 


Red  River,  x,  44 

Red  Wing,  30 

Reidsville,  vii 

Revolution,  American  15,  16,  19 
Revolutionary  war,  13 

Rhine,  29 


River  Indians,  xi,  1,  2 

Rock  Island,  36 

Romanists,  25 

Rome,  church  of  xii 

'  Royce,  Miss  Nancy  19 

Russell,  Caroline  56 


Sac  village,  35 

Sacs,  31,  36,  37 

Sandy  Lake,  31 

Schenectady,  54 

Schoolmistress,  first  in  Wis 
consin,  27 
Scott's  commentary,  21 
Scott,  Cosen                              55 
Scharfs  History,  J.  Thomas      6 
Scotland,  honorable  society  2, 17 
Senecas,                               44,  57 
Sergeant,  John  (elder)  viii,  xii,  3, 
4,5,6,8,9,10,11,1213,28,53 


Sergeant,  John  (younger)  15, 17. 
18,  19,  20,  21,  23,  24 
Severin,  H.  57 

Shantytown,  26,  56 

Shawano,  x,  xi,  xii 

Shawano  county,  43 

JShawnees,  9 

Sheffield,  1 

Shekomeko,  6 

Shirley,  Governor  William, 

of  Massachusetts  12 

Signers  of  constitution,  52 

Sincoe,  Lieut.-Col.  15 


INDEX. 


65 


J'age. 

Six  Nations,  10,  17,  39 

Sioux,  29 

Skatekook,  1 

Skoharie,  54 

Slaves,  fugitive  45,  58 

Sliugerland,  Rev.  Jeremiah 

28,  40,  41,  42,  44,  55,  56 
Slingerland,  Mrs.  Sarah  J. 

28,  55,  56 

Smith,  John  Y.  25,  26 

Society  in  Scotland,  for  the 
propagation  of  Christian 
knowledge,  2 

South  Kaukauna,          20,  22,  24 
"Southern   Congregational- 

ist,"  xii 

Springfield,  2 

"Stabber,"  The  36,  37 

Statesburg, 

20,  24,  26.  29,  30,  31.  56 
St.  Chrishona,  29 

St.  Jacobs,  J.  B.  58 


Page. 

Straum,  Louis  29 

Stevens,  Rev.  Jedidiah  Dvvight 

27,  28,  29,  30,  31 

Stevens,  Miss  Lucy  C.  30 

Stockbridges,      vii,  xi,  2,  15,  17, 

19,  20,  22,  24,  25, 26, 27,  28,  32, 
37,  38,  39,  40,  42,  45,  48,  49 
Stockbridge,  church  of       vii,  17 
Stockbridge  Indian  church, 

1,  12.  39,  54 

Stockbridge,  England,  6 

Stockbridge,  Massachusetts, 

viii,  ix,  2,  4,  6,  7,  8,  9,  10,  11, 
12,  13,  14,  16,  43,  53,  54 
Stockbridge,  Wisconsin, 

x,  xi,  23,  34,  35,  40, 42, 44, 55,  57 
Storm,  Miss  Helen  C.  23 

Stoughton,  xiii 

Susquehannah,  9,  54 

Stowe,  Mrs.  Harriet  Beecher     1 
Switzerland,  29 


T 


Tanner,  Dr.  H.  B.  24 
Tatepahqsect,  19 
Tau-taii-yah-com-iiK>  wah,  xiii 
Tecurnseh,  19 
Thackeray,  William  Make 
peace,  7 
Thanksgiving,  institution  of  19 
Thor's  hammer,  14 


Thwaites,  R.  G.  xiii,  56 

Trempealeau,  29 

Trempealeau  county,  30 

Trinity  college,  27 

Turkey,  Dennis  xiii 

Tuscaroras,  13,  53 

Two  Rivers,  xiv 


Umpachene,  2,  4,  5 

Union  army,  44 

Union  college.  1 

United  States,  xiii.  15,  26,  49,  57 


United  States  government, 

22,  30,  35 

United  States,  Congress  of      vii 
Utica,  16 


W 


Wah  ntih-wah-iiKH't.  25 

Wah-pa-sha,  30 

Wah-weh-wee-nee-meew,  27 

Wappecomrnehkoke,  19 

Washington  (city),  vii 

Washington,  General  15,  16 
Washington,  I'tvsidcnt  IT.  18,20 


Watts,  Dr.  Isaac  7 

V\  aun-nau-con,  vii,  ix 

Wauwatosa,  41 
Wauvvaumpequunnant,  John    S 

Webster,  39 

Wesley,  John  12 

Westfield,  3 


INDEX. 


Page. 

West,  Rev.  Dr.  Stephen     14,  15 
West  Springfield, 
Westchester  county.  6 

Whitefield,  Rev.  Geo.  12 

Whitney,  Mrs.  M.  A.  25 

Whittier,  John  Greenleaf         14 
White  Plains,  15 

White  River,  19,  20;  21,  22 

Wilder,  Rev.  S.  P.  xiv 

Wiffiams,  A.  W.  44 

WTilliams  college,  7,  13 

Williams,  Col.   Ephraim, 

(senior)  7,13,54 

Williams,  Eleazar  2,  29 

Williams,  Stephen  D.  D. 

2,  3,  4,  5 

Williamson,  Thomas  S.      36,  37 
Winnebago  convention,  55 

do  Fort  34 

do  Lake 

xi,  22,  40,  43,  44,  57 


Page. 

Winnebago,  presbytery  of       55 

Winnebago  Reservation,         42 

Winnebagoes,  22,  35 

Winoua,  30 

Wisconsin,  vii,  xi,  xii,  xiii,  1,  17, 

19,  20,  21,  22,  23,  24,  25, 

26,  27,  29,  34.  36,  39,  43, 

48,  49,  55,  57,  58 

do         State   Historical 

Collections,  Vol.  II.  22 

do    do       Vol.  IV.  16 

do    do    Vol.  VII.  (p.  453)  26 

do    do         Vol.  XII.         xii 

do  State  Historical 

Society,  xii,  15 

do        presbytery  of          vii 

Wnahktukook,  1 

Wood,  James  6 

Woodbridge,  Timothy 

4,  10,  12,  13,  54 
Wolf  River,  x,  44,  48,  49 


Yale  college, 
Yoccum,  John 


3,  4  I   York  money, 

48 


8,58 


Zinzendorf,  Count  von 


<TB  R  A  R  >- 

v  or  THE 

EB 

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